We begin the story of Shining Armor with an uneasy rest. He is about to be promoted and these events take place just before the return and defeat of Nightmare Moon. Of course there is a ceremony for his promotion and it takes place at noon, which makes sense considering that the Sun Goddess is ruling this country. The night before it is uneasy and filled with strange dreams, these are all visions of different mulitverses. In the first one he is a dark knight leading the Red Wings. In the next one everyone’s genders are reversed and suddenly there are suspiciously many males in this world. Everything else from characters to military interaction is pretty much the same. Eventually he is in a dream where everything happens in reverse, especially eating and drinking. He wonders what this dreams could mean or if they mean anything at all besides not eating before going to bed. It becomes creepy when he reawakens and everything is as it should be but something isn’t quite right. The map draws his attention but after a second of confusion he thinks that all the continents are placed just like they always were. At first he believes that the wrong map was placed on the wall and only after a few moments he remembers that this different map was a present of Twilight. How could he forget that? Then for a brief moment he realizes that he seems to be at the wrong place. Eventually after some sleep he decides to eat something.
As he walks around to find something to eat we get some insight how the guards act when there is no mad Goddess about to bring fourth eternal night or Chaos threatens to drown everything in sorrow. While completely silent when there is someone around to see them, they just don’t stop talking when they think they are alone. One talks seemingly forever about going to the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. He won’t like it this year, at least the beginning. Shining Armor does not remember the names of the guards and neither do they remember him. It takes some time for the new memories to form. Slowly he remembers the name of at least one guard: Lance-Corporal Ellis Bitter Apple, one of the many Apple family members. Sergeant Thunderchild comes in and doesn’t recognize him at first either but he soon blames it on the missing armor. Shining Armor suspects that the confusion comes from someone dyeing his mane in a different color, apparently a prank often pulled on disliked guards and rookies. By now he remembers the names of two other guards Captive Audience and Running Gag. And it also seems that it would be a good idea to change names once someone joins the military. Shining has unpleasant memories of someone dyeing his mane like a skunk and switching his cologne with something fitting for the new look. He also wonders if lieutenant Cherry Coke will be the target of such a prank, since he liked to pull rank on others. Nobody here seems to be able to recognise him and only slowly does the knowledge of his existence spread. We also learn that Bitter Apple is intentional late to the family reunion to avoid getting stuffed with food. By now Shining also blames the lack of recognition on his missing armor. He soon decides to find some peace in the gardens. On his way he encounters Blueblood with his mane hidden under towels harassing some troops to let him inside their barracks. And just like everybody else the spoiled prince doesn’t recognise Shining when he should be able to remember the brother of Twilight Sparkle, only student of the Sun Goddess herself. And his attempts at wit can be classified under “overwhelming stupidity”. This is actually covered by the Royal Guard Regulations and the appropriate answer is sarcasm. Princess Celestia really knew what she did when she wrote this but then again she had an incredible experience of ruling this land for an eternity. For a moment Shining regrets that Major Payne’s idea to add the use of pepper spray didn’t make it. He asks the noble who he wants to talk about this incident with, a major, a colonel or better a general? What is the reason for this entire ruckus? Someone did dye Blueblood’s mane with a constantly color-changing hair dye. Everyone present is able to avoid laughing. It also shows how far Blueblood is removed from reality when he asks for a “medic specialized in mane and coat care”. Shining actually is able to name a few ponies that could help him, ending with his sister. Blueblood actually thinks that she would be able to find a solution but talks so dismissively about Twilight that even the trained guards around him wince. Since the last dose of sarcasm was apparently not enough Shining just flat out tells the prince that the Sun Goddess would like hear how great she raised her student and his sister. The Royal Guard Regulations even cover insults to loved ones. In his arrogance Blueblood took a lot longer than anybody else to really remember the person before him. He claims he was talking abut Twilight Sharkle (that he surely didn’t made up), that she is very attractive (not the best thing to say to her brother) and eventually he just runs off and says that his toaster is still active. But Shining still takes his duties serious and reports the “act of vandalism” and just like predicated someone had used the exact same prank on lieutenant Cherry Coke.
There is still time until his promotion and he decides to visit his sister. On his way to her he meets two maids who were send by Princess Celestia to search for him. Just like everybody else they never heard of Shining and thought it was a prank of the Princess. Soon he rushes over to the Sun Goddess and notices that she has much less guards than the mess hall. But that makes perfect sense since she is powerful to take on nearly everything and the few opponents she couldn’t defeat like Discord wouldn’t be stopped by more guards anyway. Shining Armor also suspects that they are more responsible for arresting and protecting the attackers, so that Celestia doesn’t accidently kills them when defending herself and others. Philomena doesn’t look that good and will likely be reborn in a few months. Unlike everybody else she is either aware of his nature or was quick enough to figure it out and hides her surprise. She causally asks him how he felt in the morning and what strange events he encountered. Celestia is able to ask all these questions without causing him to become suspicions. That might also be so because of her impressive poker face and because he is incredible nervous to talk to his ruler and Goddess. She congratulates him to the promotion and for talking some sense into Blueblood. The Sun Goddess also shows her sense of humor by telling him that her nephew’s slip of tongue made it look like he is planning to ask Twilight out for a date. He is able to hide his disgust at the idea of the two of them being together. She talks briefly about overprotective older siblings (likely also hinting about her own status as older sibling) which leads to her next topic. Celestia asks him if he would be able to be separated from his sister for a prolonged time. He confirms this because Twilight is independent enough to live on her own and he swore an oath of loyalty to the Princess. Cadence will soon leave on her two-year diplomatic tour. She will not only get a personal bodyguard but rumours claim that either a special unit or a totally new branch of the Guard under Cadence’s command will be formed. The journey will be dangerous and they even plan a diplomatic visit to the Hooviet Empire. According to Shining’s descriptions this is a mix between the Soviet Union, the government of Big Brother from Nineteen Eighty-Four (a “cloven hoof stamping on a pony face forever”) and maybe the caste system of India. It is a vast empire ruled by a caste-based deer nation. Through economic or military pressure they force other nations to join their empire and coerce their political and social structure on the smaller nation. A spy network and indoctrinated love to Father Deer forces the society together. Instead of trying to follow their talents all ponies are forced into jobs based on their race. They once tried to force Equestria to join them as well but Princess Celestia made them VERY POLITLY understand what would happen if they tried to harm her subjects. Ironically the Hooviet Empire isn’t what Shining Armor should be worried about. Then she offers him the position of commander of the new branch of the Guard for Princess Cadence. And since this takes place immediately before the healing of Luna, soon there will be the Night Guards as well. This is an incredible honour to a soldier but he is too nervous to say anything inspirational and meekly accepts the offer. For now he will be given control of thirty troopers, Celestia plans to wait for them to that rise up in rank before adding more soldiers to this part of the army. Meanwhile Twilight has gotten her own assignment in Ponyville to heal Princess Lu… to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration. She will leave in an hour and there is little time left to say goodbye to her before he will be separated from her for 2 years. He might not even have time to talk to his parents before he has to go. Shining is about to leave as Celestia reminds him to tell his sister that he loves her. Especially in his nervous state he really needs this advice.
We learn that Twilight has the tendency to turn everything around her into libraries. No wonder that Celestia gave her a library to live in Ponyville. After some time it would have been a library anyway. The mere thought of being separated from his little sister for 2 years makes Shining more nervous than he already is. He meets Sergeant Thunderchild and describes the situation to him. Then his worries get the better of him but Shining tries to calm himself down by remembering that nothing will happen in the small Ponyville. It is good that he doesn’t know that his little sister will face a mad Goddess about to bring eternal night. The Sergeant is actually nice enough to offer to keep an eye on her, but her brother declines this idea. He finally reaches his sister and in an actually really sad scene neither Spike nor his own sister recognise him. Shining is shocked that the dragon doesn’t remember him but when the same thing happens with his sister he is insulted. She is devastated that she couldn’t recognise her own brother and hugs him immediately. And while Spike’s excuses are better than Blueblood’s, no one believes that he was joking. Then he tells his sister that they won’t see each other for 2 years. She is absolutely crushed by this idea but still able to give detailed definitions when her brother explains the details. Twilight is literate enough to understand what kind of position is offered to her brother and is truly happy for him. He doesn’t tell her that he will travel with Cadence to hide the fact that her beloved foalsitter will be gone as well. Then she tells him that Nightmare Moon is about to return and he just sees it as a myth like the world ending when the ancient Mexicoltian calendar ends. And considering that Luna was sealed 1000 years ago it would make sense that there are hardly any records left about her. Twilight asks if she can borrow a few platoons but they would hardly be useful against the corrupted Goddess of the Night. They switch topics how difficult writing letters will be with the anti-teleportation wards on the ship, even Spike’s letter will not get past them. Twilight tries once more to get more military support for her quest by claiming she will need some scouts to explore Ponyville but her brother sees right through it. He asks her if she had taken Smartypants with her and Twilight confirms it before being embarrassed about it. Both are at a loss of words about their sudden separation. He tries some humour but that falls flat but then he remembers the advice of the Princess. In a heart-warming scene Shining hugs his sister and tells her to always remember that he will love her. Her answer even managed to make him laugh. Both have gained more strength from each other for what lies up ahead.
