Chivalry, Brother of Friendship

Whatever you may think of Shining Armor's capability as a guard captain and prince*, there is one thing he is surely worth praising for - the affectionate, positive support that he selflessly and endlessly gives to others. It not only defines a large part of who he is, but I also think was what allowed him to reach the heights he has - the chivalric self-sacrificial attitude ended up having a "magic" of its own that put him on a parallel track to Twilight Sparkle's path to princesshood. We only see the beginning (the comic arc with Shining and Cadance) and the end ("A Canterlot Wedding") of this track, but I don't doubt it exists in the background, particularly during the time of the first two seasons.

We start at the beginning - Shining Armor and Princess Cadance being two "bright lights" in what is implied to have been a very dark fillyhood for Twilight Sparkle. Probably at about the same time Twilight Sparkle shows her magic ability (in "Cutie Mark Chronicles"), Shining Armor enters the Royal Guard force, and while Celestia trains Twilight in magic she and Cadance are working together to help train Shining into the future Captain and Prince we see him now as.

And just like the return of Nightmare Moon firmly set Twilight on the path of princesshood, it also set Shining to becoming Captain and Prince. Just like Twilight was "only" Celestia's pupil in magic, Shining was "only" a promising young officer within the Royal Guard when Nightmare Moon returned. Shortly after Twilight's "spark" and the Elements of Harmony restored Luna to her sister and kingdom, Shining distinguishes himself (as shown in the picture) by applying the same affection and sacrificial love he had for Twilight to Luna in helping her recover from the thousand years in exile. While Twilight is learning about friendship in Ponyville, Shining is "fighting the good fight" in Luna's recovery and rehabilitation in the background at Canterlot.

Although Luna's rehabilitation isn't 100% successful (as shown in "Luna Eclipsed"), it succeeds well enough that Celestia approves Cadance's long-time desire to marry Shining Armor as both gratitude toward and reward for his effort. In this scheme of things, "A Canterlot Wedding" isn't an oddball event, but an important step in Celestia building a family she can love and be proud of - only slightly less significant than Twilight's own triumphs leading to her ascension to princesshood.

Now that you've read my take, leave a comment and tell me what YOU think of these theories!

*Which tends to get run down more than it should IMO considering who exactly he's facing against and the fact that it's not in the win or the loss but in the struggle itself that proves his character.

Image credits: Top strip - screenshots from MLP Wikia galleries of "Friendship is Magic, Part 2" and "A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1"
Central and bottom middle ovals - commission by myself drawn by SilFoe www.deviantart.com/art/Commiss…
Twilight Sparkle and Celestia cutie mark vectors - created by BlackGryph0n blackgryph0n.deviantart.com/ga…