Shining Armor

Shining Armor is a unicorn pony and Twilight Sparkle's older brother. He is the Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, serving under Princess Celestia, and bears the title of Prince. He first appears in A Canterlot Wedding, the two-part finale of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, alongside Princess Cadance. A blurb on one of the toy sets featuring Shining Armor says that he and Princess Cadance "lead the Crystal Empire together!"

Depiction in the series
Shining Armor first appears in a flashback as Twilight describes her relationship with her brother to her friends. She calls him her "B.B.B.F.F." (Big Brother Best Friend Forever), and depicts him as very caring toward her, him being the only one at the time she would be friends with. They were close throughout her childhood and he was present to see her off on the day she left Canterlot for Ponyville, but they started losing touch with each other after that. Twilight fears that now he is marrying Cadance and starting a family, they'll never see each other.

Later on, Shining Armor became the captain of the royal guard, and became engaged to Princess Cadance shortly before the events of the episode. He was unable to announce his engagement to his sister in person due to a threat on the safety of Canterlot. At the request of Princess Celestia, Shining Armor used his magic to create a protective barrier around Canterlot and keep it there constantly. However, unknown to everyone, Queen Chrysalis was already in Canterlot and had taken the place of Princess Cadance.

Before the wedding, Twilight tries to broach the subject to Shining Armor, but Cadance interrupts before they have a chance to talk and takes him into another room. Twilight, peeking through the door, sees Cadance casting a spell on Shining Armor, concludes that she's "downright evil," and then runs off. Twilight at last confronts Cadance during a wedding rehearsal, causing Cadance to run off in tears. Shining Armor is so upset with Twilight for this that, after justifying Cadance's behavior, he tells Twilight she is no longer his Best Mare and suggests that she should not bother coming to the wedding at all.

By the time the wedding begins, Shining Armor is completely under the power of Queen Chrysalis. He remains in a trance-like state until Twilight finally reunites him with the real Cadance. Her magic breaks the spell, but by now an army of changelings has broken through his shield and is invading Canterlot. Shining Armor tries to perform a spell to repel the changelings, but he doesn't have the strength. Cadance tells Shining Armor that her love will give him strength, and the two's magic spreads outward and repels all the changelings and their queen out of Canterlot and off into the horizon.

The wedding is redone with the real Cadance involved in the planning, and Shining Armor, having reconcilled with Twilight off screen, makes her his Best Mare again. He jokes with her that Cadance only agreed to marry him after he told her she'd be gaining Twilight as her sister. At the wedding, Celestia proclaims that the power of Cadance and Shining Armor's love is undeniable, and pronounces them "mare and colt." The couple looks onto the castle courtyard and wave to the cheering crowds, then kiss.

After a wedding reception montage, Cadance and Shining Armor prepare to leave in their chariot. Before they do, Shining Armor thanks Twilight for all her help. The happy couple then ride off into the night, presumably going on their honeymoon.

On a side note, due to Shining Armor marrying Princess Cadance, he is considered royalty similar to Prince Blueblood or Princess Luna. Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor's younger sister, is also considered royalty because her older brother, Shining Armor, married Princess Cadance, making her "In-Law Royalty".

A preview photo released by Entertainment Weekly shows Shining Armor running through a snowy area, presumably a part the Crystal Empire, alongside the rest of the Mane 6 and Spike.

Like his sister, Shining Armor is a danger-prone, having been hypnotized by Queen Chrysalis and having his magic cut off by King Sombra.

His next appearance is an episode after in The Crystal Empire - Part 1 is when Celestia gets the message about the Crystal Empire returning, she says to get Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. We see him in the Artic North of Equestria at the station where the Mane 6 see him. They run to the Crystal Empire, only for his horn to be sabotaged by King Sombra. He reunites with Cadence and stays with her and comforts her.

He is shown when the Mane 6 return from the library to tell him their plan about the Crystal Fair. After it has been found out that the crystal heart was a relic (since Twilight cut a replica out of crystals), Twilight tells her brother and Cadance about the problem. After a while, Cadance falters and "passes out", only to be slightly recovered by her love for Shining Armor.

After Twilight found the real crystal heart, she gave it to Spike, who had to climb down black crystals to bring it to Cadance. But as he falls down, Shining Armor throws his wife in the air, right toward the heart, since she hadn't got the strength to launch herself by her own. After having saved the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor jokes to Twilight she has to stop saving him.

Toys
Shining Armor was put in multiple 2012 playsets, always paired with Cadance and often themed around their wedding:


 * A "Pony Princess Wedding Castle" playset, featuring a plastic castle and Playful Pony characters Shining Armor and Princess Cadance.


 * The Miniature Collection contains a Pony Wedding set, with Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Twilight Sparkle.


 * A Target exclusive playset with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance Fashion Style ponies, which states the couple "lead the Crystal Empire together".

He is also mentioned on the large talking Princess Cadance toy's packaging, which states "Princess Cadance can't wait to marry her prince, Shining Armor".

Mobile game
Shining Armor is one of the available playable characters in Gameloft's mobile game. The game sometimes lists him as Prince Shining Armor. An early preview of the game listed him as Shining Armour instead of Shining Armor.

Trading cards
Shining Armor is listed as possessing a seventh Element of Harmony, Love, in the 2012 My Little Pony trading cards; the initial release additionally lists it as his pet. The element is also attributed to Princess Cadance.

Promotional material
In a video uploaded by The Hub's YouTube channel during the week between the screening and airing of A Canterlot Wedding, Katherine Kallinis mentions "The Hub's My Little Pony Royal Wedding of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor".

The home page of Treehouse TV's My Little Pony Royal Wedding Contest site states "Princess Cadance, niece of Princess Celestia, and Prince Shining Armor, brother of Twilight Sparkle, are getting married".

The Meet the Ponies page of an Australian My Little Pony Wedding promotional site uses fanart of Shining Armor, lists him as Shining Armour, and reuses the large talking Princess Cadance toy's packaging description stating "Princess Cadance can't wait to marry her prince, Shining Armor".

Gallery

 * Shining Armor image gallery