Centaurworld’s Shining

Chapters

You’re Okay, You’re Alright
You Made It to Centaurworld!
Hello Rainbow Road
Fragile Things
Come To Us
What If I Forget Your Face?

You’re Okay, You’re Alright

The sound of bodies slamming against the palace door was cacophonous, enough to distract nearly anypony from just about any task they were trying to focus on. Shining Armor, however, wasn’t just anypony, and the tasks at hoof weren’t just any tasks. Shining Armor was the head of the royal guard for the Crystal Empire, and the safety of his land and his people was more important to him than just about anything in the world.

The only things more important were the ones he was currently trying to protect.

Princess Cadance was no slouch herself when it came to combat. She had stood in front of multiple adversaries, completely willing to stare danger in the face if need be. There were ponies who would observe the title of “princess“ and assume that she was some sort of helpless sort when it came to those things, but that was the farthest thing from the truth. The only reason that Cadance wasn’t trying to participate in the battle, other than the perceived futility of it all, was that she was the one carrying the only truly helpless member of the family.

Princess Flurry Heart’s ears folded against her head as her mother clutched her close. Whereas her father was able to shrug off the crashes of flesh against crystal as if they were nothing, the little one was not quite as lucky. The infant sniffled, and the only thing stopping her from breaking into a wail was Cadance’s comforting backrubs. Despite the stress of the situation, Cadance did her best to keep calm, lest she upset the babe any more than she already was.

Shining set another bar up over the door, but the sheer volume of shadow soldiers slamming against it was too much. The previous bars had all splintered, and this one was already heading in the same direction. The forces that Sombra had summoned were far stronger than those under his employ in the past. Shining would have wondered how that could possibly be, had he any time to focus on anything other than the task at hand. The stallion grimaced, glancing back at his family before coming to a conclusion.

“Run,” Shining stated, as coolly as possible considering everything going on. “Get to the panic room. Try to send a message out to Celestia, Luna, Twilight, anypony. I’ll hold them off until I can join you.”

“They’re going to break through, Shining!” Cadance insisted. The panic in her voice stirred Flurry, but she held her close to try and quell her. “If you try to hold them off by yourself…”

“You know you can’t keep Flurry here with all of this,” Shining said, another slam on the door almost jostling him. “I promise, I’ll be right behind you.” Another thud cracked the newly-placed bar, and Shining gave an urgent look to his wife. Cadance stared at him for a long, long moment, before finally taking off further into the castle.

Shining gritted his teeth as he backed away from the door. His horn lit up as he stared down at the strange horseshoe-shaped metal piece dangling around his neck. He still wasn’t quite sure what it was, but it wasn’t until its mysterious appearance that the forces of King Sombra had come at the empire in full force. Whatever it was, Sombra wanted it desperately, and if he wanted it so desperately, then it had to be kept away from him at all costs. Shining could feel some sort of magic coursing through it, but he couldn’t place it at all. It was like nothing he’d ever seen.

With a final, sickening thud, the doors to the Crystal Palace were blown open. The shadow soldiers, some battered and bruised but still driven by an unnatural force, attempted to flood the foyer, but Shining’s preparation had paid off. With a powerful flash of magenta, a force field formed, pushing the invading army back through the door. It wouldn’t hold for long, and more would need to be done, but Shining had a promise to keep. The stallion turned and bolted down the hall as the malevolent forces pounded away at the magical shield. A barrier which would have kept any normal ponies at bay was already beginning to crack, but it bought them time.

In the panic room, Cadance fought to stay calm as she held her daughter tightly. Shining Armor was headstrong, but he rarely overestimated his abilities. If he truly believed that he could hold the army off long enough to make it back here, then she would do her best to trust his judgment. Still, every second that she waited for him was full of worry. She did her best not to show any of that worry to her daughter, but she could already feel her begin to get antsy. Flurry was very perceptive for a pony her age, and while that was typically a good thing, it certainly wasn’t when trying to keep her at ease during such a stressful time.

The door flew open, and Cadance instinctively jumped into a defensive position, lighting her horn up and preparing a spell. Her defenses only dropped when she realized that the intruder was her husband.

“I told you I’d be right behind you,” Shining said through labored breaths, slamming the door shut behind him.

“I know,” Cadance said, throwing her forelegs around him. “But you know I’m going to worry anyway.” The two embraced, trying their best to relax.

“Did you send a message out?” Shining asked, stroking his wife’s back with a hoof.

“Multiple,” Cadance replied, using one hoof to wipe the sweat off of his brow. “Though I have no clue if they made it out. Sombra’s got a powerful anti-magic field around the castle, I’m not sure if they penetrated it.”

“I hope so,” Shining said, giving her cheek a nuzzle before he let go of her. “I’m not sure if we can…”

His thought was interrupted by a sniffle from Flurry. The two parents looked at each other, then to their daughter. They knew her all too well. If they didn’t stop her now, the tears would be flowing in a scant few moments.

“Shhh, honey,” Shining whispered, leaning in to touch his nose to hers. “It’s okay. You’re okay.” Cadance leaned in as well, and the two met eyes again. They didn’t need to communicate verbally to be on the same page, as they both began to sing their favorite song to calm Flurry down.

As Cadance continued to sing, Shining’s ears perked. Hoofsteps were approaching the door. They were still far away, but it wouldn’t be long now before they reached them. Cadance had heard it too, but she did her best to continue and keep Flurry at ease. Shining bit his lip, then joined back in. It was notoriously difficult to quell Flurry when she was nearing a full-on fit. Such were the follies of being parents to a baby alicorn. But this song always did the trick, and the little sniffles soon ceased.

Flurry had finally calmed down, but unfortunately, the moment wouldn’t last. Just like it had at the front door, the pounding began on the panic room door. Flurry’s eyes shot opens and Cadance clutched her to her chest as Shining stood between the door and his family.

“I don’t know if the door will hold,” Cadance said. Despite her usual resolve, her voice trembled. “Those things are more powerful than any soldiers I’ve encountered.”

Shining took a deep breath. There was nothing in the world that meant more to him than protecting his family. As thoughts of what to do flew through his head, he suddenly felt an odd tug in the back of his mind, leading his eyes towards the artifact around his neck. The power coursing through it felt even stronger than before, as if it was calling out to him. Telling him that it could help.

It didn’t make sense, but little did.

Shining took a deep breath, raising the artifact in front of himself and closing his eyes.

“They’ll break through any second,” Cadance said. “We need to…” She raised a brow as she saw the stance her husband was taking. “What are you doing…?”

“Protecting you,” Shining said. With a final impact, the door to the panic room burst open. Shining hoped beyond hope that this sudden idea would work as he channeled his magic through the artifact. As the first shadow soldier breached the doorway, he let his spell fly.

The feeling of his magic joining with that of the mysterious artifact was a bizarre one. The soldier moved as if in slow motion, and Shining could immediately sense that something was wrong. The artifact glowed a brilliant blue, brighter and brighter by the second until it began to crackle with magical energy. He could hear his wife’s voice as the army poured like molasses into the room, but it sounded far off.

“No!!!”

And then everything went black.

Author's Note

Rider’s Lullaby Lyrics:

You're okay
You're alright
I'll never, ever leave your side
I will stay and I will fight
For you.

You're okay
You're alright
I'll stay here through the darkest night
All the way, I will fight
For you.

(The original lyrics were “with you” instead of “for you,” but I picture Shining and Cadance singing about fighting for, rather than with, their infant daughter :P )

You Made It to Centaurworld!

The ringing in Shining’s skull refused to stop as he opened his eyes, letting out an exhausted groan. He ignored it, however. It wasn’t anywhere near important compared to everything else.

Even though his body ached, he leapt to his hooves. His surroundings were completely unrecognizable. Bright green hills sprawled out towards the horizon, meeting a pleasant and cloudless blue sky. The only things marring the clean greenness were a few scattered huts and trees. Shining was used to this kind of sight, as much of the more populated areas of Equestria were roughly this idyllic, but at the same time it didn’t look the slightest bit familiar. Wherever he was, it wasn’t anywhere he recognized.

Even that wasn’t what troubled him the most. What troubled him the most was the fact that he had no idea where his family was.

“Cadance!” Shining shouted, his voice echoing across the plains. “Flurry!”

Possibilities began to race through his head. Had he blacked out from the magical output of the artifact and been captured? It seemed unlikely, as Sombra’s soldiers would have likely taken the artifact, which still dangled from his neck. Plus, they would have probably moved him to some kind of dungeon, rather than an admittedly pleasant field. Perhaps he had fired off a teleportation spell? No matter what the circumstance, he had to find his family.

Shining tried to cast a location spell, but nothing happened. It was an elementary spell, one which he was usually able to cast easily, but it simply refused to work. An attempt to levitate a nearby rock ended similarly. Wherever Shining was, he was no longer connected to Equestria’s magic, and that was only slightly less worrisome than the whereabouts of his family.

Before Shining could ponder any of this further, his thoughts were interrupted by a face popping up in front of his own.

“Hello!”

Shining’s eyes widened. The creature before his eyes was like nothing he’d ever encountered before. Long brown hair framed a flat pink face, and two giraffelike horns protruded from its forehead. In fact, giraffelike was a very apt description, as said face resided stop a long neck of similar origin. Its–his?–torso and buff arms copied the colors of the face, standing tall and basically interrupting the giraffitude that the rest of his body exuded. Was that a word? Shining wasn’t sure, and he wasn’t sure of a lot of things right now, to say the least. Faced with such an unfamiliar and jarring sight, Shining reacted in the first manner that came to mind.

“Aaaaaah!!”

The giraffe thing pondered this reaction for a split second before reacting in turn.

“Aaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”

Shining backed into a defensive position. Given the panicked screams of the creature and the way that he shrunk backwards, neck curling back to hide his head behind his hands, it was possible that defense wasn’t needed, but he couldn’t bargain on that assumption. Looks could be deceiving.

“What is happening?!” Shining shouted amidst the less intelligible shouts.

“I don’t know!!!” the creature shouted back.

The two stared at each other. Now that the screaming had subsided, Shining tried to assess the situation. This…being…didn’t seem like he wanted to harm him, or else he would have likely launched an attack by now. In fact, Shining was relatively sure he’d scared the daylights out of him, and dangerous warriors looking to inflict harm upon their adversaries were notoriously hard to scare the daylights out of. Either way, he had to be certain.

“Are you attacking the Crystal Empire?” Shining asked, though it was more of a demand than a question.

The creature stared blankly at Shining, just long enough that Shining considered asking again, before finally responding with a smile.

“No.”

“Are you sure?” Shining asked.

“Yes,” the creature replied, much quicker this time. Shining eyed him carefully.

“Do you even know what the Crystal Empire is?” Shining asked.

“No,” the creature responded.

The uncomfortable silence lasted for a scant few seconds before Shining decided he’d had enough. This wasn’t helping him find his family. Without another word and with no idea of where to go, Shining took off running. The creature simply watched him as he left.

Shining bolted through the strange unknown land, looking for some manner of hint as to where he was or how to get home. The unicorn dashed over the pristine green fields, scanning the area as he ran. Wherever he was, it was a place where nothing seemed to make sense. A tall mushroom off to his left turned to him, smiling brightly and waving at him before running in the other direction. What looked like a family of giant bees idly chatted with each other to his right, and he just narrowly avoided trampling their picnic blanket. A building shaped like a horse with an upper body similar to the creature he’d just interacted with faced away from him, an entry door placed square on its butt. That last one really threw him for a loop.

“Stranger danger!”

So distracted was Shining by the butt door that he barely registered the voice. Finally looking where he was going again, the sight of another bizarre creature directly in front of him. This one was shorter than the giraffelike one, though only slightly. Atop a long, pencil-thin neck sat a small head with huge eyes and ears and a tuft of blue mane. A more feminine upper body transitioned from brown to pink, ending in a more deerlike lower body. Shining had no idea what this one was either, but made the conscious decision to stop in his tracks before he steamrolled it.

For its part, the new creature seemed even more panicked than the giraffe one had been. Her long neck scrunched up, and she grabbed her head as she began to shriek. Despite Shining making no further moves towards her, her panic only worsened as she tugged on her large ears and let out a louder yell.

“Whoa…uh…” Shining stammered. He may have wanted to get out of wherever he was and find his family, but he certainly didn’t mean to send what seemed like a harmless bystander into hysterics. “You…uh…don’t have to…”

“Outta the way,” came a deep voice from behind Shining. He turned around just in time to duck a tiny orange creature. The thing was just a bit smaller than Shining’s head, and flapped its arms as if they were wings, somehow able to fly just by doing that. Like the others, his lower body was more animal-like, resembling a blue bird of some sort. The little guy flew up to the deer one, dropping a paper bag into her flailing hands. “Calm down, Glendale. Use your words.”

The one that must have been Glendale pulled the bag to her face, breathing into it and muttering nonsense as she did so. Shining attempted to back away from the two, but was stunned by the sudden emergence of another creature from the nearby bushes.

“Hello!”

This one had a darker masculine upper body and the lower body of a zebra. He let out a haughty little hum as he turned, appearing to pose in front of Shining, who was now starting to feel even less at ease than before. They didn’t seem hostile, but were they to become hostile, he was outnumbered.

“There you are!”

The giraffe man galloped back onto the scene, now leaving Shining at a four-to-one disadvantage. Glendale was starting to recover, and the other two were looking him over, the zebra more critically than the bird.

“You ran away so fast, I didn’t get the chance to tell you my name!” the giraffe said, smiling a pleasant little smile as the bird perched atop his head. He closed in on Shining, the others beginning to do the same. Shining was a royal guard, trained to defend himself and those that he cared about, but even he was starting to become unnerved by the pack of bizarre beings. He planted his hind hooves, gritting his teeth.

“Don’t get any closer,” Shining stated. “I’m a royal guard!”

“Where'd it's arms go?” the zebra asked as he leaned in for a better look. “And what's wrong with it's butt?”

“Oh, it’s got a picture on there!” the giraffe said excitedly, pointing at Shining’s cutie mark. “Did you draw that? Because that is, I mean it’s very impressive! I can’t even do that so well and I have arms!” Shining whirled around to get his hindquarters away from the invasive giraffe, and was suddenly face to face with Glendale.

“And look!” Glendale said excitedly, seeming to have shaken off her bout of panic. “It’s got a weapon on its head!”

“It’s a horn!” Shining said, eyes darting left and right as he realized he was surrounded.

“Pf, doesn’t look like a horn to me,” the bird muttered, still atop the giraffe’s head. “Bet you can’t even play music with it. Dumb horse horns.”

“That’s not the same…” Shining began, finding himself sneering at the bird’s tone.

“You know what?” the giraffe suddenly said.

“…What?” Shining asked, not sure whether he wanted to know the answer.

“I think I want to touch its face!” the giraffe replied, the fingers on both hands wiggling eagerly.

“What?!” Shining exclaimed. “No! Get away! Stop it!” His efforts and words were futile as the four descended upon him. He barely dodged the giraffe’s hand, only to feel Glendale’s fingers wrap around his horn. He wrenched his head away, ducking under the zebra’s hands as he did so. “I’m a highly-trained warrior!”

It was taking all of Shining’s willpower not to attack these creatures. It was more than fair to call them invasive, but they didn’t seem malicious in any way. Though the bird did call his horn dumb, but that was less malicious and more rude. Either way, a rude comment did not warrant any kind of violent recourse, no matter how much he was beginning to consider it.

“Everyone, stop!”

A new feminine voice rang out, and the four creatures immediately stopped in their tracks. Shining breathed a sigh of relief and looked in the direction of the voice of whoever had just saved his sanity. He was beginning to get just a bit used to how odd this world’s inhabitants looked, so the dark pink creature with the bubblegum-pink fluff all over its body didn’t strike him as hard as it might have moments earlier. In fact, were it not for the extra limbs, he could almost mistake her for an inverted-color Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Shining said, slipping away from the other four. “These four are all trying to-“

“Is that…” the pink one interrupted, before her eyes went wide. “A new friend?!”

The comparisons to Pinkie Pie were growing by the moment. Shining decided that he didn’t have time to waste waiting for the next moment.

“Finally!” the pink one cried out, oblivious to the fact that Shining was making a hasty exit behind her back. “Oh, it's been so long! Finally someone to nurture. Like a baby! Not…not like a literal baby. More like a spiritual baby. No! A metaphorical baby!”

The others attempted to break through the pink one’s musings, but it wasn’t until Glendale’s attempt that they were finally able to get through to her.

“Hey Wammawink?” Glendale called out. “You know that metaphorical baby you were just talking about?”

“Yeeeees?” Wammawink asked.

“Well,” Glendale continued. “He gone.”

Wammawink finally turned back around, and her face fell as she noticed her new friend was no longer with them.

“What?” Wammawink stammered, sweat starting to bead on her brow. “But…where did he go?”

“He said he had to rush off in search of some people that he said he called Cadance and Flurry Heart,” the giraffe told her, the bird still perched atop his head and looking for all the world like he didn’t care about a single thing that was going on. “And if he didn't get back in time he’d be too late, because the last he saw-“

“Durpleton…there’s so much happening…” Wammawink said weakly, pressing her hands to her temples.

“He also said he needed to get back to some war that he was in the middle of,” Glendale offered, nudging up to the zebra, who looked a lot less bothered than one might usually be by someone pressing their head up against them. “Because he and his Fladance-person-people-things were doing some pretty important stuff, and also other words that I didn't really understand the meaning of.”

“He also said you were Pinkie Pie times five,” the zebra said. “Whatever that means.”

“Oh, he said that, did he, Zulius?” Wammawink asked, gritting her teeth. “Well I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.”

“Didn’t sound nice,” the bird said, shaking his head. “Typical horse.”

“Well, Ched,” Wammawink said calmly. “Our new friend just needs a proper welcome. So why don’t we give him one right…noooooow?”

With that last word, Wammawink launched herself into the air, in a way that should have been completely impossible for someone without wings to do.

Shining, meanwhile, was already quite far away. He still had no idea where he was going, but running seemed like a good option regardless. For one, he couldn’t find an exit if he was standing still, and running meant that logically he would find an exit earlier. It also didn’t hurt that running got him away from all the grabby creatures and the pink one, who he could already tell was more than a bit clingy.

Visions of Shining’s family passed through his head as he frantically tried to find a way out of wherever he was. He shuddered to think what could have happened to them, what with Sombra’s shadow soldiers pressing down on them. He could still hear Cadance’s shout clearly in his hea, as if she was still right next to him. The second he got out of here and back home, he was going to make those soldiers pay for even thinking about laying a hoof on her and their daughter. Anything that Sombra could do to him would pale in comparison to what he would do to Sombra if his family was hurt.

Shining’s train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the flump of something soft and heavy landing on his back. He looked back and was met with a huge smile from Wammawink, who only further likened herself to Pinkie Pie by bursting into song. The rest of the creatures backed her up, dancing and clapping to the rhythm.

Shining found himself desperately trying to escape this frantic group of centaurs as they sang. He was more than used to a group of people bursting into song; he never would have been able to survive in Equestria if he couldn’t handle a spontaneous musical number. Cadance and Twilight had performed one just last week while baking biscuits, and frankly it was adorable watching Flurry, who still hadn’t spoken her first word, attempting to join in.

It was something about the way they were singing, however, that was giving him pause. There were an awful lot of references to him living here and being smothered by their friendship, and he was not signing up for that. In another situation, he might have been okay with becoming friends with them, but getting home to Cadance and Flurry and making sure that they were safe took priority over pretty much everything else, even his own safety.

For the briefest moment, Shining found himself hesitating during the song. Something about what that Glendale sang…did she say that they were “at war with a ruthless horde of invading warriors?” Was there a chance that this Centaurworld place was also under attack from King Sombra’s troops? Shining had no idea where Centaurworld was or how he ended up here, but that didn’t necessarily mean that it was out of Sombra’s reach. As soon as he was able to reunite with his family and assure their safety, Shining would have to look into this and see if he could help them as well. But, as stated earlier, his family came first.

Shining carefully watched the group as they continued singing. At least one of them had eyes on him at just about every moment…until the finale. With all of them in a final pose, he had his chance.

The herd of five, meanwhile, posed together, all catching their breath after their musical display.

“That was awesome,” Ched said, flapping next to Zulius. “Hey, where’d it go?”

Sure enough, Shining was nowhere to be found once more.

Author's Note

Lyrics for Centaurworld Theme:

Hey! New friend!
I’m glad you made it.
Hey! New friend!
As long as you are with us, you are home!
It really sounds like where you’re from is…overrated!
But now you’re here! We’re never gonna leave you alone!
(We have no sense of boundaries!)

Cause you made it to Centaurworld!
And nothing better represents our world
Than this colorful collection of singing and dancing
Half-animal half-man things that you’re meeting here today!

You’re welcome in Centaurworld! It’s the place where all your new best friends are, girl!
We’re all different but we’re always together!
It’s splendid!
We’re kind of codependent but we’re happier this way!

I mean, technically sure, we were at war with a ruthless horde of invading warriors!
(Shh! We agreed not to talk about that!)
But hey!
Let’s just pretend it’s okay!

You made it to Centaurworld!
Join our herd of centaur boys and centaur girls,
and I promise you will never find anywhere friendlier!
The fun never ends!
When you’re living in…
In Centaurworld!

Hello Rainbow Road

If Shining Armor’s sister could see him now, she would probably have some words for him about how he was treating this opportunity.

Twilight would primarily be concerned about the safety of Cadance and Flurry Heart like Shining was, of course. They were her family too, after all. But at the same time, he was currently running away from not only the opportunity to learn about a new race of creatures and a completely new land, but also abandoning those same new creatures when they were actively trying to befriend him. The chance to grow relations with a race previously undiscovered by ponykind was right up Twilight’s alley.

He liked to believe, however, that making sure her family was safe would take precedence, much like how it was for him.

Half of Shining expected the bridge that he ran across to ask him to tread a little more lightly. It would have been quite in line with everything else he’d been seeing in this Centaurworld so far. Everything about this world was just so bizarre, and this was coming from somepony who was used to the kinds of wild things that happened back in Equestria.

Shining gritted his teeth as he ran down the only road he saw. This road actually would have fit in well back home, what with its rainbow pattern. Shining wasn’t concerned about that though. He was more concerned with the fact that this road seemed to lead right out of this colorful meadow and into the forest. Despite not knowing what lie beyond the meadow, he was perfectly willing to chance it if it meant he could maybe find a way back home. With a determined huff, he ran into the forest.

Or at least he would have, had he not slammed into a magical force field just before the forest entrance.

Shining let out a groan as he watched the force field ripple, expanding in a dome over the entire meadow before fading from sight once more. He liked to think himself an expert on the topic of magical force fields, and he had to admit through his consternation that one of such a size was pretty incredible. This fact would only make it that much more incredible when he managed to bust through it.

Had he stopped to ponder things, Shining would have likely realized that the idea of physically breaking through a magical force field was preposterous. Luckily for him, it only took about five or six more attempts at brute forcing it for cooler, nearly-concussed heads to prevail. Finally being forced to admit defeat, the frustrated Shining trudged back up the road. The sun was starting to set by this point, which made finding the centaurs’ campfire that much easier.

Shining took a deep breath before he poked his head through the bushes to observe the group. These centaurs had to know something about the dome that surrounded the meadow. They lived here, after all. He was pretty sure that if he lived inside of a magical dome, he would know at least a thing or two about it, and why wouldn’t that apply to them as well? If he was going to get out of this place, maybe befriending the group was in his best interest after all. They did seem like a mostly friendly sort. Well, Ched had called him dumb, but even that could be forgiven. From the way he was currently frolicking with the rest of the group, there was probably some good in there somewhere.

“Ahem…” Shining cleared his throat. Instantly, the frivolity stopped, and all eyes were on him. Wammawink looked especially perturbed, although one could also make an argument for Glendale, who seemed poised to eat a giant stack of pancakes off of Wammawink’s fork before the distraction.

“Well, well, well,” Wammawink said, shaking her head and staring daggers at Shining. “Look who came crawling back. Maybe we should share our gigglecakes.” This elicited a pathetic whimper from Glendale, and Wammawink let out a sigh before moving the fork in her direction. Within moments, Glendale had devoured the entire stack, face now covered in syrup.

“I wasn’t looking for gigglecakes,” Shinjng stated, stepping out of the bush and walking up to the group. “But thank you. I was wondering if you all knew anything about this dome that’s covering your meadow?”

“Oh, yes!” Durpleton exclaimed, nodding enthusiastically. “There’s a dome, and it’s covering the meadow!”

A gentle breeze blew past.

“Yes…thank you for that,” Shining said flatly. “So how do I get out of said said dome?” The rest of the group looked at each other uncomfortably before Wammawink once again took the lead.

“You can’t get out of the dome,” Wammawink told him, before raising a hand. A soft pink aura surrounded her hand as she stretched her fingers. “Without magic.”

Shining raised a brow as he watched the magic pulsate around Wammawink’s hand. So there was magic in this world? That just made things all the more strange.

“How are you doing that?” Shining asked, narrowing his eyes. “My magic isn’t working.”

“Is it Centaurworld magic?” Wammawink asked smugly.

“Considering I’d never heard of Centaurworld before your song a little while ago?” Shining asked. “No.”

“Hm, what a shame,” Wammawink said with a grin. “Centaurworld magic is very strong, you see.”

“Really?” Shining asked. “What can it do?”

“What can it do?” Wammawink repeated incredulously. Then she held her hands up and began to snap.

“…What are you doing?” Shining asked, uncertainty in his voice and eliciting a smirk from the pink one.

“Why tell you what it can do,” Wammawink said, as the others began to snap in unison. “When we can sing to you about the magic with our nightly magic song?”

Yeah, she and Pinkie Pie would probably get along very well.

“I don’t really have time for-“ Shining began, but it was too late. Everything had been set in motion, and there was simply no stopping this song.

Shining was used to a number of different versions of magic. Every unicorn seemed to have their own slight twist on the concept of magic that made it uniquely theirs. As he dodged swinging manes, avoided being tangled up in stretchy necks, and had his head caressed by a pair of prehensile eyes, he had to concede that Centaurworld magic was way, way different from Equestria’s magic. When he found himself frozen in place, one of Wammawink’s hooves cocked like a weapon in his face, he finally managed to speak up.

“Okay, I get it,” Shining said, staring the hoof down. “Tiny versions of yourself from your hoof…?”

The question was quickly answered as the loaded hoof fired off, and sure enough, a tiny version of Wammawink smacked Shining in the face before flopping to the ground. The dumbfounded Shining stared down at the facsimile, a look of shock on his face. As it turned out, the amount of shock on the tiny version of Wammawink’s face was even greater.

“Wh…what is this?” tiny Wammawink said, hands rapidly running over her own body as if attempting to come to terms with its existence. “Why was I made?” A scream of guttural terror followed as the mini-clone took off into the bushes.

“Where did that go?!” Shining asked, a panic in his voice.

“We never know,” came the responses of Glendale, Zulius, Durpleton, and Ched. In unison, the four fired tiny versions of themselves to the ground, each of which shrieked in abject horror before bolting off as well.

Shining, for his part, was absolutely gobsmacked as he stared into the smiling faces of the five. This was, without a doubt, the strangest magic he’d ever come across. Twilight would surely want to hear all about it, but he honestly wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about it ever again once he got home.

“This…is what you do every night?” Shining asked, suddenly acutely aware of how wobbly his legs weren’t.

“Every day and every night~!” Wammawink confirmed. “We sing our songs, we practice our magic, we practice our magic inspired by songs we sing while we do our magic…”

“Right, right,” Shining said, cutting her off. “And…you know, not to talk down on it or anything, but the only magic you all can do are, like…Portal Tummy, and Handsome For Eight Seconds?”

“And I can shoot tiny versions of myself from my hoof!” Durpleton quickly added. Shining tried to interject, but was met with a tiny Durpleton to the face for his troubles.

“Uh-huh,” Shining muttered. “Well…maybe I can just do it? I might not have my magic, but barriers were my specialty back home, and I still have…”

Then Shining paled.

“The artifact!” Shining shouted, finally realizing that it was no longer around his neck. Despite still not knowing what it was or where it came from, he knew that he had to keep it with him and away from Sombra, but now it was missing and he had no idea when it had even vanished. “Where is it?”

The group stared at him. All except for Wammawink, who was now giving one of her friends a side-eye.

“Glendale?” Wammawink said, holding a hand out to her. Glendale’s eyes widened, and then she hung her head in shame.

“Well…okay, but I don’t really want to,” Glendale said. Then she rose to her hind legs, spreading her forelegs out. A magic portal burst into existence on her belly, and she reached into it, pulling the artifact out and placing it in Wammawink’s hand.

“Sorry,” Glendale said sheepishly. “It’s just that…stealing that which does not belong to me makes me feel so alive.”

Shining made a conscious decision not to unpack this. It honestly wasn’t any weirder than anything else he’d encountered here thus far.

“You’ll have to excuse my herd,” Wammawink told Shining as she placed the artifact back around his neck. “They’re…well, let’s just say they’re Pinkie Pie times five, whatever that means.”

“You’re a herd??” Shining asked. His eyes darted back and forth between the five. He’d heard of some ponies forming herds back home, but he never would have guessed…

“Of course!” Wammawink confirmed. “Our herd may look different, but we take care of each other. Because that’s what families do!”

Families. Okay, being a herd clearly had a different meaning here.

“Don’t you know what that’s like?” Wammawink asked.

The question hit Shining like a brick, or maybe like another tiny version of one of the herd to his face. The question seemed like it was meant in earnest, but it still shook him. He was already spending too much time here.

“I do,” Shining sighed. “And that’s why I need your help to get back to my family.”

“Only a centaur shaman can help you with that!” Glendale offered, ignoring the disapproving look that Wammawink was giving her. “They’re the most powerful…most magical beings in all of Centaurworld! Ohh, just uttering the word shaman makes me feel an anxiety unlike any I’ve ever felt before!”

Shining’s eyes lit up. Which was much different from what Glendale’s eyes were doing, which could better be described as “growing to about five times their normal size.”

“That’s great!” Shining said, nodding resolutely. “Then let’s go talk to a shaman!”

“There are no shamans in Centaur Valley,” Wammawink stated, arms crossed.

“Okay…” Shining responded. “I’m not seeing the problem here. Just help me leave the valley. Please.”

The others gasped. Glendale shrieked as her eyes grew once more, this time to such a degree that they lifted her off of the ground entirely. Shining didn’t question this. He knew better by this point.

“What’s wrong with that?” Shining asked, starting to pace back and forth in frustration. “What’s out there anyway?”

“Well, I mean the Rainbow Road leads all the way around Centaurworld!” Durpleton offered, looking quite proud to be helpful. “Uh…we don’t know…we don’t really know what’s out there. But it’s more than what’s in this valley!” Wammawink’s glare was now aimed squarely at Durpleton, but it didn’t stay there long.

“And there are five centaur shamans that live in different corners of the world!” Zulius added. Unlike the others, he didn’t ignore and/or not notice Wammawink’s disapproving look, opting instead to laugh. “What? You know me. The fact that you don’t want me to tell him these things makes me want to tell him even more!”

Shining couldn’t help a smirk. The sass on that one was oddly charming.

“Ugh…listen,” Wammawink groaned. “Our herd is very happy here. It’s fun! It’s magical! But most importantly: it’s safe.”

Shining thought this over. As the parent of a little filly, he could appreciate the value of safety. Wammawink clearly cared strongly for her little ramshackle family, and he could very easily relate. If anything terrible happened to his family, it would tear him apart.

At the same time, wrapping them up in bubble wrap, or a magical dome in this case, didn’t seem like the right answer.

“I get that,” Shining told her. “I really do. But I mean…safety is important, but it’s also important to let those you care about make their own choices too.” He could see from the look on Wammawink’s face that he wasn’t reaching her just yet, so he continued. “If you stop them from having these new experiences because you don’t think they’re safe, then they’ll never learn how to handle things themselves.”

Seeing that Wammawink wasn’t allowing herself to be swayed, Shining turned his attention to the others. “And hey…aren’t you bored just staying here? Don’t you want to see what’s out there for yourselves?”

Zulius and Glendale cast side-eyes at each other, while Durpleton tilted his head curiously, almost making Ched fall off. Seeing that things were moving in a direction that she didn’t like, Wammawink swooped back in.

“Of course not!” Wammawink insisted, smiling nervously. “They love it here! We love it here, right? We love doing the same magic every day and every night! Don’t we?” She looked to her herd for support, but was met with half-hearted murmurs.

“But how can you go and sing songs about how great Centaurworld is when you just sit here in one place all the time?” Shining asked. He honestly didn’t mean it in an insulting manner, but based on the glare from Wammawink and the gasps from the others, he had hit a nerve.

Shining typically wasn’t the type to antagonize those who didn’t deserve it, and he didn’t think Wammawink deserved it. But the longer he stayed here, the more chance there was of his family being in danger. With the stakes that high…maybe a little light antagonizing was just what the doctor ordered.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Shining asked, allowing himself a smirk. “Your herd is bored out of their centaur minds.”

The daggers that Wammawink was currently staring at Shining could cut glass. Shining was quite used to this manner of death stare from Twilight when he would tease her, and thus remained unfazed.

“Say that again,” Wammawink dared him. Unfortunately for her, Shining was more than willing to take that date.

“You’ve trapped yourselves here because it’s nice and safe,” Shining continued. “When secretly, you’re bored!” He stomped his hoof for emphasis. “You’re stuck, and you’re bored, but it doesn’t have to be that way! Don’t you guys want to see the world?”

“Yeah!” Glendale and Ched agreed.

“Feel the…feel the wind in your manes?” Shining continued.

“Yeah!” Durpleton and Zulius concurred, although the latter seemed mildly concerned about his mane getting ruined.

“Feel the adrenaline rush as you deflect a horde of shadow soldiers from your doorstep?!” Shining shouted, his enthusiasm getting the better of him.

The others seemed less interested, muttering with uncertainty. Except for Durpleton, who gave a resounding “Yeah!!!” Even with his limited time around Durpleton, Shining was fairly certain he had no idea what he was agreeing to. Maybe he had to reel it in a bit.

“Don’t you want to see what’s out there?” Shining asked. “Beyond the barrier?”

The herd was now squarely behind him, giving their energetic approvals. All except for Wammawink. She crossed her arms, trying to keep her air of anger, but now Shining could notice just a bit of fear behind that. Regardless, he had to push on. He nearly had them.

Shining took a deep breath as he looked out towards the Rainbow Road. He didn’t know exactly what waited for him out there, but it didn’t matter to him. If that was the way he needed to go to get home, then nothing would stop him. He could hear Cadance’s voice in his head. He could picture Flurry’s face, calm and peaceful as he and Cadance sang to her. He would get back to them.

Shining looked back to the herd, taking another breath. The herd, obviously very used to the idea of breaking into musical numbers, caught the hint instantly, and stared with rapt attention. Not wasting another moment, Shining began to sing.

The wind blew through Shining’s mane as he galloped along the rainbow road, rapidly approaching the edge of the valley where he knew the barrier to be. He glanced back as he sang, looking over the herd. He had just about everyone on his side, except for their leader. A part of him felt guilty for leading them away from Wammawink’s side. The group clearly loved each other deeply, and setting them against each other was not something he wanted. As he broke into a reprise of his and Cadance’s song for Flurry, he hoped beyond hope that Wammawink would see things his way.

Shining felt Glendale’s hand rest on his side as the rest of the herd joined hands and sang along with him. He could see the barrier start to ripple, the surface tension beginning to weaken. Still, though, it wouldn’t fade. One piece was missing.

And then, just like that, as he reached the climax of the song, Shining felt another hand on his side. He looked up to meet Wammawink’s eyes. There was still a clear bit of uncertainty behind her stare, but then it was replaced with a determined look, a small smile, and a resolute nod. Her other hand raised into the air, pulsing with magical energy. With a powerful burst of magic, the force field opened up, and the first thing standing between Shining and his family faded to nothingness.

The group of six looked at each other, then took off down the road, together into the unknown.

Author's Note

Spells for Days Lyrics:

[WAMMAWINK]
Every centaur’s filled with magic
That’s what we’re here to prove
It’s in our eyes, it’s in our manes
And in our magic hooves

Our magic might be silly
But we love our magic ways
Because, my friend
We’ve all got spells for days

[ENSEMBLE]
Spells, spells, spells, spells

[ZULIUS]
This spell’s called "The Shapely Mane"

[DURPLETON]
"Sparkle Blinkies" fill the world with glitter!

[CHED]
There’s "Handsome For Eight Seconds"

[GLENDALE]
And "Stretchy Neck Times"

[ENSEMBLE]
And "Wobble Lеgs" is always a winner

[ZULIUS]
"Portal Tummy"

[GLENDALE]
"Prehensilе Eyes"

[DURPLETON]
“When I blink my spots turn into pies”

[WAMMAWINK]
I can shoot tiny versions of myself from my hoof

Hello Rainbow Road Lyrics:

You said the road around this world is tiled with rainbows
And the lands are filled with centaurs, great and small
Then why are you sitting around here
Doing the same old... same old?
Instead of ridin' out, so you can see it all?

But it takes a little boldness
And a little bit of magic
I'd go on my own if only I had it
The magic, that is
Together, we'll go into the unknown
So say bye to the old
And hello to that Rainbow Road
Oh, oh, oh
Follow, follow
Follow the colors and lights of the roadway
And if we all go
Together, we'll find we can make it our own way

You're okay, you're alright
I'll find you there beyond the light
But it takes a littlе boldness
And a little bit of magic
I'd go on my own if only I had it
Yeah, it takеs a little boldness
And a little bit of magic
I'd go on my own if only I had it
Your magic, that is
Together, we'll go into the unknown
So say bye to the old

And hello to that Rainbow Road

Fragile Things

Shining honestly wasn’t sure what the centaurs were making such a big deal over. Compared to the Everfree Forest, this particular forest seemed downright peaceful. It was hard to even imagine something in this silly, colorful world being dangerous–although to be fair, his own world was rather colorful and danger still managed to rear its ugly head quite often. He would keep an eye out, but he had a feeling that things wouldn’t be quite as dangerous as Wammawink was insinuating. She did seem like the type to worry more than necessary.

For their parts, most of the herd seemed very intrigued by their new surroundings. Maybe a bit naive about them as well, if the way that Zulius had just taken off running and stumbled over a fallen tree was any indication.

“Oww!” Zulius moaned as he rubbed his forehead.

“Careful, Zulius!” Wammawink exclaimed as she rushed to his side. She wrapped her arms around him, gently helping him to his hooves. As she did, she sang softly to him, welcoming the others to join her embrace.

”One careful step at a time.
Please watch yourselves as you go.
Better safe than sorry
Never made it this far
We ought to take it slow.
For we are all just fragile things
Soft and small
And haven’t been here before
Where the outside can harm you
Reject you
But just stay close
And I will protect you.”

Shining watched the scene, conflicted on how he felt about it. Seeing Wammawink so caring was sweet, but it still felt like a bit much. Maybe the rest of her herd was a bit naive–Glendale should have really noticed that wasptaur hive before Wammawink had to guide her away from it–but there was such a thing as smothering. Also, was it wasps or wasptaurs? That was unrelated but Shining couldn’t help but wonder. Once he saw the arms on the creatures, he decided that wasptaurs it was.

If there was one thing that Shining had already learned about this world, it was that singing tended to get one’s point across. He had already brought the herd to his side by singing. It couldn’t hurt to try again. With a confident nod and an ear that was thankfully good at picking up on melodies, Shining stepped in front of the herd.

”Oh, I see your face, I see your fear
You can’t back down when threats appear
Though these lands get ever stranger
Steel yourselves and face the dangers
You can all be fearless too
You can fight for yourselves
You’re alright by yourselves
Cause you know
You’re strong enough to protect you.”

The herd, as they did earlier, gave Shining their full attention, even joining in his song with backup vocals. He quietly took note of this as he sang. Once he got home, he would have to see if he could use this same tactic to influence other ponies. He could think of a lot of intense debates in the royal court that could have been circumvented with a nice song.

“No!”

Wammawink’s shout broke Shining out of his thoughts and his part of the song. She began to sing her part again, but Shining wouldn’t be defeated that easily, and reprised his lyrics as well. The other centaurs were startled by the conflict between their protector and their new bold friend, and it only got worse when the two began to butt heads.

”This is why I should be leading the way!” both sang at each other, Wammawink trying to beat out Shining’s voice by getting louder. The two began to gallop along the road, the others frantically following them.

”Because I’ll keep you safe!” Wammawink insisted.

”Make you strong!” Shining retorted.

”Stop it! Clearly you’re wrong! the two sang in unison. ”Just believe me when I say…”

Whatever the two were planning to sing was forgotten as the entire group, more focused on the song than the road, ran over the edge of a small cliff. The six tumbled down the side, doing their best to brace themselves before landing in the dirt below. Whatever irony there was in arguing over who should lead while simultaneously leading their crew over a cliff was lost on Shining and Wammawink as they pulled themselves to their hooves, each moving to help the others up before meeting each other’s eyes.

”Just stay close to me…” the two sang in unison. An intense moment of silence followed, a rare occasion where none of the group had a word to say on the matter. Then Shining turned away, resuming his travels. The rest followed suit, letting the awkward silence hang in the air for a moment.

“…I don’t like it when mom and dad fight,” Glendale whispered to Zulius.

“Mom and dad?” Shining asked, looking back at her. “I’m pretty sure we must be close to the same age?”

“It’s not polite to ask a lady her age,” Ched said, fluttering over to land on Glendale’s head. “Typical thoughtless horse.”

Shining stopped in his tracks, turning to face the group fully.

“Do you have a problem with me?” Shining asked, trying to keep his tone calm. He could forgive a barb or two, but when barbs were practically all that Ched offered him, it was starting to get a bit frustrating.

“Oookay, haha, okay!” Wammawink quickly interrupted, getting between the two before Ched could respond. “That’s enough of that, no reason to argue!”

“He started it,” Ched lied, letting out a hmph as he relocated from Glendale’s head to Durpleton’s. Shining scoffed, but opted to be the bigger man–metaphorically, as he already had the literal part handled.

“I don’t care who started it,” Wammawink said. “I’m ending it. We have to be civil with one another if we’re going to help…”

Wammawink hesitated, before an embarrassed blush colored her cheeks.

“…I suppose we really should have asked your name by now,” Wammawink said, awkwardly steepling her fingers.

“Oh oh!” Durpleton exclaimed, poking his head between the two. “Is it Arthur? Bumbleton? Harrimaloo? I once had a pet rock named Bumbleton so I hope it’s not that because it would get very confusing. Unless you want to be my new pet rock?” The giraffetaur smiled innocently, even adding in a single sparkle blink.

“Why would I…” Shining started, before letting it go. “No. My name’s Shining Armor.”

“Shiny Boy!” Glendale exclaimed. Shining rolled his eyes, though he couldn’t help a small smirk.

“Sure,” Shining responded. “I guess you can call me that if it makes you happy.”

“Uhh…” Glendale said, tugging on an ear. “I guess I could, but I was kinda talking about that.” She pointed past Shining, drawing his attention to a glittering crystal on the ground.

Shining’s ears perked. The crystal certainly was shiny. And it was cut so perfectly, almost flawlessly. Being around crystals so much had gotten him used to what made for an especially beautiful and valuable crystal, and this one absolutely fit the bill. Every facet seemed to catch the light in just the right way. It reminded him so much of home, of the kinds of crystals that his wife loved, of the type of gemstone that would elicit such a big smile from his daughter.

Shining wanted that crystal.

The unicorn turned towards the crystal, staring intently at it. It would be so easy to go pick it up. Then it would be all his, and his alone. No one would be able to take it from him. All he had to do was grab it, and…

…Something felt off.

Shining pressed a hoof to his temple as he stared at the crystal. Why would someone leave such a beautiful gemstone in the middle of a forest like this? And why was he suddenly so interested in it? Cadance had plenty of gemstones, as did Flurry, and he never had an especially strong interest in them.

Something was definitely wrong. Shining’s magic might not have been with him, but he knew what magic generally felt like, and he was feeling it right now.

Shining felt as if a fog was lifting from his head, and he was quite thankful for that fact, as it gave him enough reaction time to dive into Glendale just as she was about to touch the gemstone.

“Don’t!”

The two hit the ground, Glendale looking completely bewildered. In an instant, the rest of the herd surrounded them.

“What was that?!” Wammawink exclaimed.

“He’s turning on us!” Ched shouted. “Can’t trust horses! I tried to tell you!”

“You’ve got it all wrong!” Shining said, climbing off of Glendale and offering a hoof to help her up. “I was just-“

“Stopping her from stealing?” Zulius asked. “Oh, Shiny Boy, if you’ve got any aspirations of that, you might be biting off more than you can chew.”

“No, no,” Shining insisted. “I was getting a bad vibe from-“

Shining gestured towards where he was sure the crystal was, and was only somewhat surprised to find that it had vanished.

“Oh yes,” Durpleton said, now wearing a pair of reading glasses. “That does look like it might be poison ivy.”

“That doesn’t look like ivy at all!” Shining insisted.

“Poison ivy is known for its stealth,” Durpleton asserted. Ched nodded in agreement, likely because he knew it would annoy Shining.

“Wha…” Shining started. “…Never mind. There was a crystal there. It felt weird. I didn’t want her to touch it.”

“Hm…” Wammawink said, rubbing her chin. “I don’t know how a crystal can feel weird, but I suppose I do appreciate you looking out for my herd.” Then she adopted a haughty smirk. “Do you see what I meant now? About how they need protection? That whole song of mine that you tried to usurp?”

Shining frowned. He really wasn’t hoping to prove Wammawink right immediately after that whole duet. He looked over to Glendale, who wore a heavy pout. Part of him wanted to think it was because she didn’t like the way Wammawink was insinuating that she was helpless, but it was just as likely that she was disappointed at the failed theft.

“Being careful is fine,” Shining said. “Important, even. But there’s a difference between being careful and being overprotective! How do you expect them to learn to keep themselves safe if you’re hovering over them all the time?”

A collective gasp came from the group.

“Ohhh, he said that…” Glendale muttered.

“Excuse me?” Wammawink retorted, narrowing her face. Not her eyes, her entire face. “Have you not noticed all the dangers we’ve been seeing in this short walk?”

“Yes, I have,” Shining answered. “And if you’re constantly shielding them from those dangers, what do you think will happen? What if you’re not around to protect them? What if you’re the one in danger and you need them to help you? If you keep sheltering them from everything, they won’t know what to do without you!”

“That won’t be happening,” Wammawink said sternly. “I can protect myself.”

“And you don’t think they can do the same?” Shining asked. He looked to the rest of the herd, who all looked rather uncomfortable with the fighting. “I don’t know why you think that way, but I think they can all be very capable if need be.” This elicited a little hopeful look from Durpleton and Zulius.

“I’m not saying that!” Wammawink answered. “I’m just trying to protect my only family from danger! From…from the wasptaur hives! The fernblades! Whatever this thing is!” She reached down and picked something up, showing it insistently to Shining.

Shining’s pupils shrank as he saw Wammawink holding the very crystal that he had stopped Glendale from grabbing. A long, black tendril was attached to the other end, a detail that was likely hidden by the underbrush previously. Wammawink noticed his reaction and turned her attention to the object in her hand.

“Oh,” Wammawink said, her smile desperately attempting to hide a combination of awkwardness and fear. “I guess I shouldn’t have picked that up, huh?”

The ground started to rumble, causing the group to nearly lose their footing.

“Drop it!” Shining shouted.

“I can’t, it’s stuck!” Wammawink shouted back, waving her hand frantically.

Then the ground opened up, and the alpacataur was lifted off of her hooves.

Come To Us

It was safe to say that Shining Armor had seen his fair share of threats back home in Equestria. Not even taking the shadow soldiers currently attacking the Crystal Empire into play, he had seen swarms of changelings, the crushing fist of Tirek, the frightening power of the Storm King and his army…the threats were many, to say the least.

And yet none had been as visually terrifying as what he was seeing at this very moment.

A tremendous black beast rose from the ground beneath Wammawink, positively dwarfing the rest of the group. The tendril on its forehead hung perilously, as Wammawink was currently stuck to the jewel at its end. Even when Shining was certain that it was the largest beast he’d ever seen, it continued to sprout from its hole, as if there was no end to its terrifying form. The thin beams of light that managed to penetrate the forest’s canopy reflected off the monster’s chitinous carapace. Two red eyes, gigantic yet still beady compared to the sheer size of the beast, glistened as it stared at the catch at the end of its fin ray. Just when Shining was certain that it couldn’t get any more horrifying, the beast’s mouth opened, displaying rows upon rows of terrible, spearlike teeth.

Everything else in this world was sickeningly adorable. This appeared to have crawled its way out of another realm, one which Shining wished never to visit.

“It’s an anglertaur!” Wammawink shrieked as she desperately tried to pry herself from its lure. The rest of the herd stared, aghast at the sight of the thing. Glendale in particular seemed about ready to faint.

“What do we do?” Shining shouted. He was clearly the bravest of the bunch, and almost certainly the most battle-hardened, but he didn’t even know where to start with this thing. A haunting howl from the beast, an eerily melodious chorus of voices that shouldn’t have been able to come from a single creature, only served to shake his resolve.

“Run away!” Wammawink screamed, her hand refusing to free itself. “Save my herd! I…I’ll handle it!” The words were meant to be brave, but the fear in her voice betrayed their intent.

Shining couldn’t believe what he was hearing as he watched her struggle. He looked to the rest of the herd. From his earlier interactions with the bunch, they seemed to generally look at Wammawink as their leader and follow her instructions. Despite that, not a single one took off running.

“We can’t leave you behind!” Shining insisted.

“Go!” Wammawink wailed. “I’ll be fine!”

Shining refused to believe her. He looked once again to the rest of the herd. The looks in their faces were intensely familiar to him. Despite being absolutely petrified by the situation, he could tell that they wanted so badly to save their friend and possible motherly figure.

“Listen,” Shining said to the others. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But we can save her if we work together. Are you in?”

Zulius and Durpleton moved for the first time since the thing emerged, each putting an arm around Glendale to support her. Her head began to flop over, but Ched flew under her to support it. The four of them looked to Shining, then back to the beast, and then back to Shining again. Finally, they all nodded.

“Then follow my lead,” Shining told them. He was used to commanding an army. This might have been smaller than his typical army, and they certainly looked nothing like it, but the feeling was familiar enough to comfort him. Which worked well, as an incredibly discomforting song came from the beast in a multitude of voices.

”Come to us…”

“I see your face, I see your fear,” Shining sang in return, starting a charge towards the monstrosity.

”You will be ours…”

“We can’t back down when threats appear,” Shining shot back, looking behind him to see that the rest of the herd had joined in the charge.

”In the ground…”

“And it’s never meant more than here and now! Shining continued as the group closed the distance. Wammawink was watching them, completely horrified by the fact that they hadn’t fled, but a quick thrash from the anglertaur pulled her so they were out of her sight.

”Wont let you go…”

“You’re okay if you stick with me,” Shining sang as he pointed a hoof towards Durpleton, then towards the beast, giving him a series of insistent blinks.

”Don’t leave our side…”

“Cause I can teach you how to be…” Shining responded. Durpleton managed to pick up on the hint, stretching his neck towards one of the anglertaur’s eyes and unleashing an offensive sparkle blinkie directly at it.

”How will you hide?”

“Quicker, stronger, full of bravery,” Shining sang, noticing the beast reeling at the bright lights. Ched was the next to receive a direction as Shining pointed him towards Wammawink. The finchtaur took off, flying towards his target. ”And how to survive!”

Ched grabbed onto Wammawink’s hoof once he reached her, starting to pull. Wammawink’s eyes went wide. She knew Ched couldn’t possibly support her if she was pulled free, but she didn’t have time to think about that as the beast started to recover.

”You can’t escape from us
You were all made for us
Just give up, just give in
You will sink now”

The anglertaur’s powerful jaws snapped as it tried to pull its prey down into the ground, but it was stunned when Ched aimed Wammawink’s hoof at its other eye and a bevy of tiny versions of her were fired into it. This did little to solve the problem of Wammawink still being stuck, but she and Ched continued to try and work on that, now joined by Durpleton’s head as it provided a place for Ched to hook his feet and a bit more leverage to pull. The beast continued to sing its haunting melody as it refused to relinquish its catch.

”You will be one of our thousands of souls
We’ve taken and buried below
You are ours, and we are yours…”

On the ground, Shining watched the scene above. The group was making good headway, but they needed one final advantage. He glanced back to Zulius, Glendale, and Durpleton’s body, trying to figure out what to do from here. Before he could try to bark out another order, Zulius’s eyes lit up.

“Glendale!” Zulius shouted. “The bookcase!”

Glendale tilted her head, then pulled on her ears as another panic began to take over.

“Do I have to?” Glendale whimpered.

“Do you want to save Wammawink?” Zulius asked.

“More than anything in the world!” Glendale shot back.

“Then I think you know the answer, honey!” Zulius insisted.

Shining was completely lost, but it sounded like Zulius had a plan, and he wasn’t about to argue against that.

”You can’t escape from us…” the wicked beast sang as Zulius stretched his mane out, hooking and tying the top of it around Durpleton’s extended neck.

”You were all made for us…” it bellowed as Glendale launched a rather large wooden bookcase from her portal tummy. Shining wasn’t sure how that thing fit in there, but there was no time for questions.

”Just give up…just give in…you are all ours now…” the haunting voice continued as the bookcase sprung into Zulius’s mane. The weight of it pulled his mane back like a bowstring, before it was fired off and hurtled through the air.

”Just give in to us now!”

The final cry was cut off by the bookcase striking the anglertaur in the midsection. The jolt made it reel back in pain, and that was just what was needed for Ched and Durpleton to pull Wammawink free. The three flopped backwards, landing in a heap on top of Shining, Zulius, and Glendale. The group would have been left vulnerable, but the anglertaur, having lost its prey and apparently decided that it wasn’t worth the fight, sank back into the ground.

The group of six slowly pulled themselves up. They were a bit worse for wear, but considering what they had just escaped from, things could have been much worse.

“Glendale?” Zulius asked as he shook dust from his mane. “Weren’t there…books in that bookcase at one point?”

“Never you mind,” Glendale responded weakly.

“That was fantastic!” Shining exclaimed, no longer able to contain his excitement now that the danger was in the rearview. “The teamwork…the tactics…wow!”

Wammawink, meanwhile, opted not to say anything, letting a big, warm group hug with her herd say everything that was needed. Shining opted to stay out of it. He was happy to see everyone safe, but didn’t feel he knew them well enough to join in on a group hug like this. Then his choice was taken away from him as a bit of magic from Wammawink pulled him into the embrace.

“Thank you so much,” Wammawink said softly. “I really don’t know what I would have done without your help.”

“Of course,” Shining said, smirking lightly. “Although it’s your herd that deserves the thanks. I just spurred them on. They did the hard part.”

“I…guess they did,” Wammawink replied, a strange hesitation to her tone. It was quickly forgotten as she showered her herd with praise. “Wonderful, wonderful job, all of you! I’m so proud of you all!” The others bathed in her affection, excitedly babbling about how afraid they were for her and how wild it was to save her like that. Shining watched the scene with a smirk before offering one more comment.

“I guess they don’t need you to protect them, huh?” Shining asked.

He knew that he had done something wrong the moment the words left his mouth. The glow of Wammawink’s pride in her herd dimmed almost instantly, and the expression that replaced it was not one that Shining wanted to see. The rest of the herd was looking at him, so he figured he was the only one that saw what looked like fear in her eyes.

“…Wammawink?” Shining asked, taking a step closer. The herd turned to look at her, but by the time they had, she was right back to smiling.

“A wonderful job indeed,” Wammawink asserted, giving Durpleton’s cheek a pinch and patting Zulius on the head. “Well then…let’s continue, shall we? Keep moving, chins up, don’t forget your bookcase Glendale!”

Shining watched the alpacataur as she strolled forward. He raised a hoof as if to call her attention, but she simply gave him a curt nod and continued on.

What If I Forget Your Face?

Shining was a faithful pony through and through, with Cadance being the only love he ever needed. As such, the sidelong glances he kept stealing at Wammawink since he had helped to save her from the anglertaur, glances which could have been interpreted in a less wholesome way otherwise, were anything but.

Something had changed in the way she interacted with him since their post-fight talk, but he couldn’t quite place it. Given the fact that it had just happened about ten minutes ago, it could have been possible that he hadn’t received a big enough sample size of her new behavior to truly claim it as such, but he felt confident enough in his assessment. She wasn’t even attempting to strike up a conversation with him, and seemed to be clinging to her herd even more than she had been.

Maybe he was overthinking things. Wammawink had just been through a harrowing ordeal, her life literally on the line. Of course she was clinging to her herd after they saved her. Maybe she was even regretting the way she spoke about them needing her and making up for it with added affection. Whatever it was, it was entirely possible that he was just looking too deeply into the situation. Maybe he just needed to get his mind off of things.

“Hey Zulius!” Shining said, making an attempt to let his mind move on.

“Hmm?” Zulius responded, glancing back at Shining.

“That mane trick was really impressive back there,” Shining told him, eliciting a proud smile from the zebrataur. “Where’d you learn that?” He caught a glimpse of Wammawink side-eyeing him, but let it go.

“Oh, that?” Zulius asked, clasping his hands together behind his head. “Oh, that was nothing.” His words suggested humility, but his body language seemed to scream for more praise.

“That wasn’t nothing,” Shining said, feeding the attention beast even more. “I mean, the way you knew just how to launch that bookcase correctly? And the…the follicle strength? I know my mane couldn’t do that.”

“Oh, stop,” Zulius lied, his eyes sparkling as he basked in the attention. “But no, don’t really.”

“It really was some quick thinking,” Shining told him, before turning his attention to Glendale. “And Glendale! You fired that gigantic thing out of your belly like it was nothing. How did you even fit that in there?”

“Oh, everything fits in there!” Glendale answered, smiling brightly. ”Everything.” Shining laughed awkwardly before looking to Durpleton and Ched.

“And you two!” Shining exclaimed. “The teamwork is really impressive!” Wammawink had slowed her pace now, staring back at Shining, but his mind was set on its current path.

“You’re finally talking some sense,” Ched said, flexing on top of Durpleton’s head.

“We’re a very good team!” Durpleton insisted. “Because there’s no I in team! And there’s no I in Durpleton or Ched. But there is an E! And that rhymes with team!”

“What he said,” Ched agreed.

“Yyyeah,” Shining replied, grinning an uncertain grin. “This is what I was talking about earlier. You can fight for yourselves!” Wammawink had stopped in her tracks completely by this point.

“Well…it was still for Wammawink,” Durpleton said.

“And that’s great!” Shining confirmed. “It’s always good to fight for a cause. I’m just saying that you’re your own people, and you’re capable on your own!”

“Do you have a problem with me?”

Shining’s eyes shot towards Wammawink as she uttered the first words in his direction since just after the battle.

“What?” Shining asked. “Of course I don’t. Why would-“

“Then why are you trying to take my herd from me?” Wammawink asked, taking a step towards Shining. The rest of the herd stayed quiet, looking anxiously between the two.

“I would never do that!” Shining insisted. He opted not to take a step towards Wammawink as well, not particularly interested in appearing confrontational.

“Oh?” Wammawink said, arms crossed defiantly. “Then what’s all this talk of them not needing me? That they’re fine on their own?”

“You’re misunderstanding me,” Shining responded, trying not to get angry. Anger wouldn’t help anything.

“Those were your own words!” Wammawink shouted. It was a curious thing seeing such a fluffy thing so angry, and honestly a bit scary to boot. Like when Pinkie Pie got angry. The comparisons continued.

“But you’re misinterpreting the meaning!” Shining answered. “I’m just saying that-“

“That they don’t need me!” Wammawink screamed, unsettling a number of birdtaurs from their roosts in the surrounding trees. “I heard it just fine, thank you very much!”

The frustration bubbling within Shining was starting to steep, and, against his own better judgment, he let it vent.

“What I’m saying,” Shining said, stomping a hoof for emphasis. “Is that they don’t need someone to obsessively mother them and control their lives!”

“Wowwww,” Ched exclaimed. “That’s a horse-pology if I’ve ever heard one.”

Wammawink stared at Shining, a long and hard stare. Shining stood his ground, even though a piece of him was trying to inform him that he might have gone too far. Finally, Wammawink stepped aside.

“Come on, everyone,” Wammawink said, putting an arm around Zulius and beginning to lead him away. “Let’s go. We’ve had enough adventure for one lifetime.”

“So what?” Shining said, sneering. “You’re giving up on me? On all of this?”

“Safe travels,” Wammawink responded, her voice dripping with venom. The rest of the herd looked between the two, then silently began to follow. Of them, Glendale was the one to hesitate most. She whimpered softly before opening up her portal tummy and reaching into it. The gerenuktaur pulled out a single flower, placing it on a log.

“Here…” Glendale muttered sadly, before turning to follow the rest of her herd.

Shining watched them go, letting out a deep sigh. There went his only backup, the only help he had in this unfamiliar world. Part of him wanted to follow and make amends, but that part was carefully squirreled away behind a thick layer of stubbornness. With a huff, he turned tail and continued forward.

Shining kept his eyes down on the Rainbow Road as he walked alone. The sun had already begun to set, which confused him. Day and night seemed to be much shorter in this world. Shining hadn’t been too concerned about the possibility of danger in the forest when they had first entered it, but after seeing the terror that was the anglertaur, he had to admit to himself that he was feeling a bit of trepidation. That bothered him almost as much as his new solitude. He was supposed to be a brave general, and here he was, scared of the unknown. Though to be fair, when the unknown had shown itself to sometimes be stories tall with rows and rows of terrifyingly sharp teeth, maybe he could forgive himself for it.

The stallion’s mind kept going back to the conflict with Wammawink. She had some nerve to accuse him of trying to take her herd away. Why couldn’t she see that he was just trying to help them gain some semblance of independence? Sure, he often hovered around Flurry Heart, but she was an infant and needed that kind of attention. These other centaurs, as far as he could tell, were grown adults.

But maybe he did go too far.

As the sun set, one of its final beams reflected off of the artifact hanging around Shining’s neck. He stared at his reflection in the horseshoe-shaped piece, and for the briefest moment, he could swear he saw the eyes of Cadance and Flurry staring back at him.

He had been careless with his words, and now he might have thrown away the best help he had in getting back to his family.

Shining sighed another deep sigh, images of his family floating through his head. Were they okay? They had to be searching for him. Would they figure out where he went? How could they, if he didn’t even know exactly how he’d sent himself here, or where here even was in relation to Equestria? At this point, he wasn’t even sure how long he’d been gone. The day and night cycle here had already appeared to be vastly different from that of his home.

Shining felt the urge to sing coming on. It happened here and there back home, but something about this world just lent itself to song. Giving in to the push, he began to sing, with the most important things in his life serving as the subject.

Some distance away, Wammawink was settling down with her herd. Nighttime had fallen, and they had walked too far from Centaur Valley to make it back without stopping for a rest. She looked over to the rest, who had already curled into a heap. Durpleton, the largest of the group, served as the base. Zulius had flopped up against him, and Glendale was draped over both of them, with Ched perched on top of Durpleton’s head. They were all asleep already, and for the life of her, Wammawink couldn’t fathom how they were able to do that. Not the cuddling up bit; that made plenty of sense to her.

It was the ability to sleep after everything that had transpired that truly vexed Wammawink. They were farther from home than they had been in ages and Wammawink herself had just been extracted from a life-threatening situation. Those two facts alone would have been enough to keep her awake, but even those paled in comparison to the back and forth with Shining and the fact that they had left him high and dry.

He had done an excellent job of getting on her nerves, but even despite that, Wammawink felt awful about abandoning him. He might have said an insensitive thing or two, but the rest of her herd had gotten somewhat attached to him already, and even though that was part of the problem, she couldn’t help but admit that he’d started to grow on her too. She wasn’t lying when she said that it had been so long since a new friend had come to Centaur Valley, and now she had left that new friend behind when he was trying to complete the most important task of his life. And now she honestly wasn’t sure if she would ever see him again.

That last concern was quickly addressed, as Wammawink’s ears picked up a now-familiar singing voice not too far off. The alpacataur glanced back at her sleeping herd before sidling towards the bushes, peeking through them to watch Shining in full soliloquy song mode.

The more Wammawink listened, the more she could see a part of herself in Shining. Maybe their situations weren’t exactly the same, but hearing him pour his heart out about finding his family resonated greatly with her. Everything she did, she was doing for her herd, and clearly he cared for his family just as much.

Wammawink’s ear perked as she heard her herd, who she thought was sleeping, singing backup vocals to Shining’s song. She turned to look at them, but they had already flopped back down and closed their eyes before she could see them. They didn’t want her to know that they were supporting him, and that stung. They had let his comments go. Maybe she needed to as well.

She turned back to see Shining lay down on the ground, and then she covered her mouth with a hand. He had finished his song with the same thing she had sung earlier. “One careful step at a time…for you and I are fragile things.”

Tears welled in Wammawink’s eyes as she stepped away from the bushes and went to get comfortable with her herd, hoping they wouldn’t notice them. She would make things right in the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~

”You’re okay…
You’re alright…”
”No!!!”

Shining tossed and turned in his sleep, his last moments with his family playing over and over again in his head. Just as he couldn’t take it anymore, he was jolted awake by something being shoved into his mouth. His eyes shot open, only to see the bright, smiling faces of the herd hovering over him.

“Aah!” Shining yelped, jumping to his hooves. “What are you…”

Then he took a moment to acknowledge the unfamiliar substance in his mouth. He chewed, tentatively at first. Then his eyes lit up, and he continued to chew in earnest.

“What is this?” Shining asked, unable to stop a smile from crossing his face. It was among the tastiest things he’d ever encountered.

“Oh, it’s gigglecakes!” Glendale insisted, as Wammawink stood proudly beside her with an entire plate of the things. They looked like pancakes coated in syrup, but he’d had pancakes before and they never tasted anything like this.

“They’re delicious!” Shining said, earning himself an even brighter smile from Wammawink as he finished his mouthful. “But what are you all doing here? Uh…besides force-feeding me.”

Wammawink set the plate aside. A rookie mistake, as the entire thing was promptly inserted into Glendale’s portal tummy, but she could always magic up some more. She approached Shining, a very serious look on her face.

“Nothing means more to me than my herd,” Wammawink told him, making meaningful eye contact. “And the thought of losing them terrifies me.”

“I’m really sorry,” Shining said, hanging his head. “I shouldn’t have-“ His statement was cut off when Wammawink’s hands raised his chin back up.

“And nothing means more to you than your family,” Wammawink continued, giving him a small smile. “I’m sorry too. Please, let our herd help you find your herd.” She motioned to the others, who all gave her a confident nod. Even Ched looked happy.

“Thank y-“ Shining started, but he quickly found himself interrupted by another helping of gigglecakes shoved into his mouth.

“But from now on,” Wammawink said, smiling slyly. “We do things my way.”

“Understood,” Shining responded, starting to chew. Meanwhile, Glendale’s head slid up next to him.

“Uhh…hey…” Glendale said, idly looking around before pointing off into the distance. “Look that way.” The confused Shining did as was requested of him, and let out a surprised yelp when Glendale’s hand reached into his mouth, pulled out the half-chewed gigglecakes, and shoved them into her portal tummy.

“Aah! Hold on, I was just eating that!” Shining protested. Glendale responded with a burp, happily holding her belly.

“Ugh…” Wammawink scoffed, shaking her head. “Unsanitary.”

Author's Note

What If I Forget Your Face lyrics:

Don't think, just trust
"Stay calm, stay with me, " she said
Eyes open, breathe in
Just one wrong move, and we're dead

And if she and I don't reunite
How can I go on?
Do we still remember what is gone?

What if I forget your face?
What if you move on without me?
What if I can't find
The doorway back through?
And what if I do
But don't recognize you?

What if I take far too long
And the danger comes to claim you?
What if I'm too late
To save you from your fate
And you are lost forever 'cause of me, yeah?

I will find a way to make sure that you're okay
One careful step at a time
For you and I, are fragile things