There are many rites of passage one must take to be recognized as a “stallion”. For unicorns in Canterlot, such rites included finding a cute marefriend, having their first mug of hard cider, and training to earn a spot in the royal guard.
Another rite to manhood is having their first shave, and Shining Armor was about to try to accomplish this feat.
“I am one sexy unicorn stallion,” Shining said with a suggestive grin as he admired his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He gave himself a couple of his unique “sensual” faces, such as bedroom eyes mixed with a Cheshire grin, or just puckering his lips like he was planning to make out with the mirror as if it were some enticing beauty.
It may seem like purely superficial behavior, but there was a method behind his apparent narcissistic madness. He always wanted to prep himself before going out so mares would notice him and find him attractive. Even when he went out to have dinner with his friends, as he was about to once he was done in the bathroom, he wanted to be ready in case he ran into some sexy girls at the restaurant.
You never do know who could be watching, and Shining wanted to make sure he looked his absolute best for whoever might be.
After a brief few minutes of engaging in what could only be described as petty narcissism, Shining stopped posing. He now wore a look of steely determination on his face. His eyes were focused and all business, reflecting his driven attitude that would eventually help him with his future position as captain of the royal guard.
But his attention wasn’t on his whole face. As he studied himself like an old text, he was focused on one thing; and one thing only.
His beard…or at least what would soon be a beard if he let it grow out. As of this moment it was little more than stubble, no different than what most teenage colts got if they didn’t shave for a couple of weeks. It was nothing to brag about; even the slightly brash Shining knew this. Yet it was still a sign of manhood, and how he was almost done walking the slow, winding road that led from foalhood to adulthood. For this reason Shining was proud to have it.
In fact, he didn’t even think about shaving until his mother kept teasing him for having the “peach-fuzz” look. It surprised him how much his facial hair was growing in. At first he thought about keeping the “older” look he felt the scruff gave him, but eventually he realized it wasn’t long enough to add significant age to his appearance. Plus his father always said how shaving caused beards to grow in thicker, so Shining reasoned that shaving it would only lead to an even more mature look.
Shining took a few deep breaths. He knew the razor wasn’t supposed to hurt, even though his father’s personal shaving proved that there were exceptions, but it was still the first time he was going to use it. He couldn’t help but feel like butterflies entered his stomach and started flying around en masse. The graceful flutter of their imaginary wings tickled the inside of the colt’s gut as he was overcome by a wave of excitement and anxiety.
”Okay Shining, you can do this. Don’t think about how close the razor will be to cutting your perfect face…wow I’m really full of myself today. I should probably tone that down a bit. Now, where was I…oh yeah…don’t be afraid of shaving unevenly either. Just grit your teeth and get it over with.”
He exhaled to relax himself. Using his magic, he lifted the electric razor off of the counter and to eye-level and turned it on. A low hum not unlike the sound of the angry bees was emitted from the device. Shining took another deep breath, inhaling deeply and exhaling into a long sigh, a process he often did while working out. But that was physical endurance, this is shaving, something that shouldn’t have made him nervous, especially for a colt that put so much emphasis on bravery.
“Well…here goes nothing.”
Slowly, he brought the razor towards his face. He bit his lip intently as the device moved closer…and closer…and closer until it was mere inches from making first contact with the tips of his scruff. He was about to do it, he was about to shave his own scruff for the first time after only being a silent observer as his father taught him how to use the razor; which often led to many cuts and grunts of pain for the indigo unicorn as his son watched.
Before the razor was able to touch Shining’s beard, the door to the bathroom swung open. Shining was so surprised that he let out a frightened yelp and dropped the razor into the dry sink-bowl, fortunately not breaking, as proven by the monotone hum.
In the doorway stood a very excited lavender-colored unicorn filly, who gave her big brother the biggest smile as he held onto his chest from the scare she gave him.
“Hi B.B.B.F.F.!” Twilight shouted as she galloped over and threw her hooves around Shining’s neck. She affectionately nuzzled her face against his soft, white fur.
Shining Armor was still trying to catch his breath after being scared, his heart pounding in his chest feeling as though it would break through his skin at any moment. Once he recovered, both his composure and his voice, he softly chuckled and returned his sister’s hug.
“Twily, you have to be careful, you really startled me.”
“Ha! I scared you!”
“No you startled me.”
“I scared you! I scared you! Nah-nah.” Twilight said with her tongue sticking out like a typical younger-sibling.
Shining couldn’t help but laugh. It was impossible to get irritated by her, even when she was like a little ball of energy. She was just too adorable. They broke the hug and Shining patted Twilight on the shoulder.
“Well, even some of the bravest ponies get scared sometimes. You seem happy.”
“Oh yeah I am happy! I had a really fun day with the Princess!” Twilight said as she hopped around her brother. “Today, she taught me how to get a better control on my levitation spell so I can have more control over it…what’s it called? Dextremity?”
“Dexterity.” Shining said with a smile. “That’s great Twily, really.”
Shining then walked back over to the sink and looked down into the bowl. The razor stared back up at him. It seemed to mock him for letting his harmless little sister make him act as though he just saw a phantom.
He used his magic to lift the razor up. But before he could get it up too far, Twilight jumped in-between him and the counter. Her cute little head popped up in-between his two fore-legs like a whack-a-mole. She looked up into her brother’s eyes with an excitable grin on her face.
“Ah!” Shining yelped, letting the razor fall back into the sink with a nice little “plunk” sound. Again, the humming of bees was heard from the still-activated electric device.
“So…how was your day bro?” Twilight asked before she turned around and looked into the sink. She tilted her head to the side in confusion at the sight of the still-activated razor, “What are you doing with the razor?”
“It was fine…I um…I’m trying to shave here Twily.” Shining took a couple of deep breaths. He loved Twilight as much as any big brother could love his little sister, but sometimes she could be quite the handful.
“Shaving? You mean like daddy?
Shining Armor closed his eyes and gave a prideful nod. “Yep, except hopefully with fewer cuts and less swearing.”
“Wow, that’s so cool, I didn’t know colts shaved that young.” Twilight said as she turned back around to look up at Shining with the cutest smile she could muster, “can I help?”
“Actually, I wanted to do it myself for the first time today. It’s part of becoming a man.”
Twilight excited face showed disappointment, “Aw come on, I just want to test my magic’s derrixity with the razor.”
“Dexterity.”
“Derpexity.”
“It’s dexterity.”
“Please?” Twilight begged; her hooves pressed together in a “prayer”. The big, expressive puppy dog eyes she gave would’ve been enough to drive the kindest and most honest pony to do something terrible, if she so pleased.
Of course, as any pony in the same situation would, Shining caved in to the adorableness.
“Okay fine, just be careful. I’m going out tonight and I don’t want to have an uneven look.”
“Yay!” Twilight shouted in joy before turning around and looking down at the razor. She focused all of her energy on enveloping the device with her aura. Slowly the razor became engulfed in a pink hue and slowly raised into the air, adding to Shining Armor’s mental image of the device being an angry insect ready to sting him.
She then slowly started to move it through the air, weaving it around like a typical show off showing off. She turned to Shining and gave him a glowing grin.
Shining returned the gesture with a kind smile. He had to admit it was pretty impressive watching as his sister maneuvered the shaving device around like it was an extension of her hoof, especially since ponies much older than either sibling still had trouble controlling objects with their aura.
“Not bad.” Shining chuckled, “not bad at all. For a filly your age to be that in control of something like a razor is impressive.”
“Thanks! I practiced a whole lot today!” Twilight said with a blush.
“So I’ve heard.” Shining chuckled a little more. Twilight was beaming with a pride that would have looked arrogant had she been an adult. But since she was a filly it was innocent and adorable.
Twilight then started to bring the razor over towards her brother’s face. Shining started to feel his fear return, his stomach knotted and he could feel his throat becoming dry as his constant swallowing began to chafe. It was hard enough to get into pressing that electronic device against his face when he was in control, but having his little sister do it for him made it even more nerve wracking.
Twilight’s face seemed to be contorting in all kinds of different expressions, most of which were variations on pure, determined focus. Her eyes squinted as she moved the razor towards her brother’s face. The tiny little buzzing tips of the blade inched their way closer…and closer…and closer.
Shining felt the tickle of the devise in his fur, alerting him that the razor was in position and ready to be maneuvered. Twilight then began to shave, careful to keep the razor close enough to Shining’s face that it would effectively trim his slight beard, while keeping it at enough of a distance so that it didn’t cut him like a turkey. That or shave his cheek bald. After all, nopony wanted to have their skin showing. Having only fur to cover their bodies made them naked enough.
Shining just watched his reflection in awe as his little sister shaved his face with very good attention to detail. She was good, really good. Shining had a simultaneous feeling of emasculation and awe. She was like a tiny little engineer; every stray hair was trimmed to match the length of the rest of his coat. Her attention to detail was flawless.
“Wow, I can’t believe how good you are at this. Maybe you should’ve taught me to shave instead of Dad. Come to think of it, you could teach Dad a thing or two.” .
Twilight beamed at her brother’s compliment. Her face radiated the pride she had in her work complimented with the joy she felt from the kudos that were rained down on her. After about three more minutes of meticulously trimming Shining Armor’s face, Twilight levitated the razor up and away from Shining’s face.
“Well? What do you think?” Twilight asked expectantly. Shining moved closer to the mirror, the still-buzzing razor hovering precariously over his left flank. The colt peered at himself in the mirror like he was observing some abstract painting that he was assigned to critique by his pretentious art professor.
He squinted, tilted his head, looked at each cheek individually, and even ran his hoof over his chin and cheeks to make sure he had been shaved clean. His face was trimmed perfectly, not a stray hair out of place. Shining was stunned at how good of a job Twilight did. He stood back, admiring his newly primed reflection, and grinned.
“Twily you did an amazing job!”
Twilight’s smile grew even more and she ran over to her brother and hugged him, which he immediately returned. Both of them were happy in each other’s arms until they hear the sound of something falling to the ground behind them.
They both turned around to see the razor lying on the floor, still buzzing like an angry hornet, vibrating against the hardwood floor. Twilight blushed, realizing her hug had taken her mind off of the razor and caused her aura that held it in place to vanish. Fortunately, it seemed that no harm was done.
There was some hair surrounding the vibrating device, but Shining just assumed it came from his peach-fuzz beard and shrugged it off.
“Oops, sorry Shining.” Twilight said with a blush.
Shining waved it off like it was no big deal and trotted over to the downed device. He levitated it into the air and brought it back over to the counter where he gently placed it before turning it off.
“You know, I might just make you my go-to-girl when it comes to shaving.” Shining turned to Twilight and gave her a small wink to show his approval.
“Really?” Twilight asked, her smile returning in full force.
Shining Armor nodded and kissed Twilight on the head, making her squeal in delight.
He then stood up and flashed his teeth in the mirror to make sure there wasn't any food stuck in them and they were as white as ivory, even going so far as to run his tongue over each tooth. He checked over his mane, raking his hoof through it to make sure it was nice and straight. Finally, he held his hoof up to his mouth to make sure his breath didn't smell. Once he confirmed that his teeth were spotless, his hair was well combed, and his breath did indeed smell breathtaking, he felt was ready to head out to enjoy the night with his friends.
Twilight, who had been watching her brother prep himself, giggled.
"Geez Shining you're being more meticulous with your appearance than Mom."
Shining looked down at Twilight with an eyebrow raised, "So you can't say the word "dexterity", but you know "meticulous"?"
Twilight shrugged. "They're two different words."
Shining kept looking at Twilight with uncertainty before his mouth cracked into a smile. He let out a small chuckle before he gave his reflection one last look-over before turning around and trotting towards the door.
“I’ll be back later Twilight. Tell Mom and Dad I said good bye.”
“Will do Shining. Have a good ni…eeeep!” Twilight let out a shrill shriek.
Shining turned around. “Twilight, what is it?”
Twilight stared with her hooves over her open mouth and her eyes wide. Clearly she just saw something that frightened her.
“Is something wrong?”
She fervently shook her head.
“Nothing?”
Twilight shook her head even more eagerly, like she was trying to use it to erase Shining’s questions from the whiteboard of existence.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep! Nothing at all.”
“So there’s nothing wrong, and nothing you want to tell me before I head out to dinner for the next couple of hours?”
“Nope, there’s nothing. None, zip, zilch, nada. He-he.” She laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head with her left hoof.
“Positive?”
Twilight nodded even faster than she shook her head. Shining kept looking down at his sister. He knew that she was lying, but decided it was best to let the matter drop, especially since he was running late for his dinner.
So he just gave her a small smile, “Okay then, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
With that Shining left, not noticing how Twilight stared at his left flank with horror in her eyes, as well as a glimmer of humor, like what she saw scared her and amused her at the same time.
“Hey the boss-pony has arrived! Sorry I'm late.” Shining said with a grin as he trotted over to his three friends, all unicorns, and all of whom were sitting at a table, waiting for him to arrive. They all turned to face him and started to tease him for being late like typical "bros" would. Shining saw two plates laid out on the table. Both were empty with a few stray crumbs on each.
Shining pointed to the plates, "I see you chose to eat without me."
"Only the appetizers." said one of his friends before letting out a small belch.
“Classic," Shining chuckled.
"What took you so long?"
"Truth is I just got held up a bit back home.”
Once he said this, one of the waitresses walked past Shining and brushed her tail against his side seductively, “I bet you did big boy.”
Shining turned to the waitress and gave her one of the many sultry smiles he practiced in front of the mirror for this very moment. His friends whistled like horn-dogs, but as Shining turned to face the direction that the waitress walked off in, he revealed the left side of his body to his friends.
They stopped laughing and gawked at Shining like he had his fur dyed pink. Slowly, their shocked expressions became ones of amusement as they started to smile.
Once the waitress walked out of sight, disappearing into the kitchen, Shining let out a love-struck sigh and took his seat, his face red and his eyes still in dream-mode as he looked up at his friends. It was then that he noticed that they were all trying not to laugh.
Shining’s goofy expression fell, replaced by an expression of annoyance.
“What?”
The three colts looked at each other, hooves covering their mouths to hold back the giggling fits that tried to break through.
“Um……Shining would you…… mind explaining to us what exactly you shaved before coming here?” asked one of Shining’s friends, who had to bite down onto his hoof to hold back his laughter. The other two weren’t faring much better, both with their mouths clamped shut and their cheeks puffed out. They looked like they’d lose control of their hysterics even if they only opened their mouth to breathe.
Obviously, Shining was confused with the question and just looked at his friends with the most perplexed and annoyed expression on his face.
“Erm...my face?"
“Are you sure……you didn’t happen to shave anything else? Perhaps something unintentionally that should never ever be shaved?”
“No, I only shaved by face. What else would I shave? My mane? My armpits?” Shining Armor spat as he started to get sick of his friends dancing around a direct explanation, “Come on you guys, what’s so bucking funny that you can't get a hold of yourselves?”
As he tried to interrogate his friends, two mares walked by Shining and, like his friends, got a prime view of his left side. They looked at each other and, in typical girl fashion, started to laugh.
“Hey pal, nice flank.”
Shining was completely oblivious to their mocking tone, and turned to give the mares a goofy, flirtatious smile.
“Thanks ladies.”
This is all his friends can take before they all break out into one of the most uproarious fits of laughter ever to come out of Canterlot. The three of them almost seemed to roar as they pounded their hooves onto the table, laughing hysterically. Shining turned to glare at his friends. Any glimmer of amusement that was in his eyes before was now gone, replaced with infuriation.
“WHAT IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA ARE YOU THREE LAUGHING AT!?!”
Another one of his friends, now able to speak, pointed to the unicorn’s left side, “Dude……look at your flank.”
Shining rolled his eyes and peered back at his flank. Once his eyes fell on what his friends and the two girls were laughing at, all anger disappeared from Shining. His expression immediately softened to one of pure embarrassment. His cheeks flushed a rosy tint, but unlike his blush before it wasn’t one of love or flirting, it was just humiliation.
“...oh dear Celestia no.”
Where his cutie mark should have been, there was now only bare skin, standing out profoundly against his white fur. He initially didn’t know how it happened, but then he remembered Twilight shaving him, and how the razor fell to the ground just by his left side. He didn’t feel it brush up against him, but he was hugging Twilight so maybe he was so focused on being proud of what his sister did right, that he failed to notice she did something wrong.
Then he remembered how odd Twilight was acting before he left. How nervous she looked, how she so vehemently acted like nothing was out of the ordinary to the point where it was obvious she was hiding something. Shining first assumed it had to do with her studies, or that maybe she realized she forgot something. Never would he have guessed that she accidentally shaved his flank bare.
That was the only explanation he could come up with. She dropped the razor and as it fell, it took Shining’s fur with it, including most of his cutie mark.
“Oh…Twilight…why…” Shining thought with his head low as his friends and the two mares continued to laugh at his expense. Soon the entire restaurant that could see the embarrassed unicorn colt burst out into laughter, shredding any bit of dignity he had before. Shining looked at all of the mares that were laughing at him, including the waitress he flirted with when he first arrived. He lowered his body to the ground as if to make himself as tiny as possible. His face was a bright crimson and he bit his lip nervously. He wanted nothing more than to teleport away from that moment, to leave the mockery behind and never return to it until years down the line when it would be nothing but a painful memory that he could laugh at.
But he couldn't. He was trapped in the middle of a restaurant with everypony's attention on him, pointing and laughing at the slightly bare bottomed colt.
All he could think was, ”Congrats Shining, you’ve finally got all the mares’ to notice you.”
