Shining Armor
My Little Pony character
Shining Armor as he appears in "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows"
First appearance	"A Canterlot Wedding" (2012)
Created by	Meghan McCarthy
Voiced by	Andrew Francis
In-universe information
Species	Unicorn
Title	Ruler of the Crystal Empire
Occupation	Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard (formerly)
Affiliation	Canterlot Royal Guard Crystal Empire
Family	Twilight Sparkle (younger sister) Twilight Velvet (mother) Night Light (father) Spike (adoptive younger brother)
Spouse	Princess Cadance
Children	Flurry Heart (daughter)

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Equestria Toyline Cutie mark Elements of Harmony
Spin-offs My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2013–2020)(List of animations) My Little Pony: Pony Life (2020–2021)(List of episodes)
Characters Mane Six Twilight Sparkle Rainbow Dash Pinkie Pie Applejack Fluttershy Rarity Main Supporting Spike Princess Celestia Princess Luna Princess Cadance Shining Armor Recurring Characters Discord Starlight Glimmer Cutie Mark Crusaders The Great and Powerful Trixie Zecora Antagonists Queen Chrysalis Lord Tirek Background/Fan Favorites Derpy Hooves Background Six Cheese Sandwich Quibble Pants The Wonderbolts Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty Equestria Girls Sunset Shimmer
Seasons & episodes Season 1 (2010–2011) "Friendship Is Magic" "The Ticket Master" "Applebuck Season" "Griffon the Brush Off" "Boast Busters" "Dragonshy" "Look Before You Sleep" "Bridle Gossip" "Swarm of the Century" "Winter Wrap Up" "Call of the Cutie" "Fall Weather Friends" "Suited for Success" "Feeling Pinkie Keen" "Sonic Rainboom" "Stare Master" "The Show Stoppers" "A Dog and Pony Show" "Green Isn't Your Color" "Over a Barrel" "A Bird in the Hoof" "The Cutie Mark Chronicles" "Owl's Well That Ends Well" "Party of One" "The Best Night Ever" Season 2 (2011–2012) "The Return of Harmony" "Lesson Zero" "Luna Eclipsed" "Sisterhooves Social" "The Cutie Pox" "May the Best Pet Win!" "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" "Sweet and Elite" "Secret of My Excess" "Hearth's Warming Eve" "Family Appreciation Day" "Baby Cakes" "The Last Roundup" "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" "Read It and Weep" "Hearts and Hooves Day" "A Friend in Deed" "Putting Your Hoof Down" "It's About Time" "Dragon Quest" "Hurricane Fluttershy" "Ponyville Confidential" "MMMystery on the Friendship Express" "A Canterlot Wedding" Season 3 (2012–2013) "The Crystal Empire" "Too Many Pinkie Pies" "One Bad Apple" "Magic Duel" "Sleepless in Ponyville" "Wonderbolts Academy" "Apple Family Reunion" "Spike at Your Service" "Keep Calm and Flutter On" "Just for Sidekicks" "Games Ponies Play" "Magical Mystery Cure" Season 4 (2013–2014) "Princess Twilight Sparkle" "Castle Mane-ia" "Daring Don't" "Flight to the Finish" "Power Ponies" "Bats!" "Rarity Takes Manehattan" "Pinkie Apple Pie" "Rainbow Falls" "Three's a Crowd" "Pinkie Pride" "Simple Ways" "Filli Vanilli" "Twilight Time" "It Ain't Easy Being Breezies" "Somepony to Watch Over Me" "Maud Pie" "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" "Leap of Faith" "Testing Testing 1, 2, 3" "Trade Ya!" "Inspiration Manifestation" "Equestria Games" "Twilight's Kingdom" Season 5 (2015) "The Cutie Map" "Castle Sweet Castle" "Tanks for the Memories" "Slice of Life" "Amending Fences" "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" "Made in Manehattan" "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" "The Hooffields and McColts" "The Cutie Re-Mark" Season 6 (2016) "A Hearth's Warming Tail" "The Times They Are a Changeling" Season 7 (2017) "The Perfect Pear" Season 8 (2018) "Grannies Gone Wild" Season 9 (2019) "The Last Crusade" Series finale
Media Films & specials My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) My Little Pony: Best Gift Ever (2018) My Little Pony: Rainbow Roadtrip (2019) Music "This Day Aria" Movie Soundtrack "Rainbow" "Off to See the World" Games My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle, Teacher for a Day Gameloft video game Collectible card game Other media Home video releases IDW comics Issues My Little Pony/Transformers
Brony fandom Fan works (list) 15.ai 15 Voiceverse NFT plagiarism scandal A Brony Tale Bronies (documentary) Derpibooru Equestria Daily FIMFiction Fallout: Equestria Friendship Is Witchcraft Legends of Equestria Love & Ponystep Ponysona PONY.MOV Them's Fightin' Herds Fan culture Analysis Brony music Bronyspeak Charity Criticism Fan art Clop Fan fiction Military bronies /mlp/ Online communities My Little Pony conventions BABSCon BronyCAN BronyCon Czequestria Everfree Northwest GalaCon Ponyville Ciderfest RuBronyCon TrotCon UK PonyCon Vanhoover Pony Expo
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Prince Shining Armor is a fictional character who appears in the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's My Little Pony toyline and media franchise, beginning with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2010–2019). He first appears in the second season finale as a major character and serves as a recurring character throughout the series. He is voiced by Andrew Francis.^[1]

Shining Armor is depicted as a responsible and protective anthropomorphic unicorn who is the older brother of Twilight Sparkle and serves as the Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot. Following his marriage to Princess Cadance, he becomes a Prince and later co-ruler of the Crystal Empire.

This section needs expansion with: June 2025. You can help by adding to it. (June 2025)

Shining Armor first appears in the second season finale "A Canterlot Wedding" when he is marrying Cadance. Throughout the episode, Shining Armor is mostly shown under Queen Chrysalis's spell. After being freed from Chrysalis's influence by the real Cadance, he combines his shield magic with her love magic to create a powerful barrier that repels the changeling invasion from Equestria.

In the third season premiere "The Crystal Empire", he is sent alongside Cadance to defend the Crystal Empire from King Sombra. However, an encounter with Sombra leaves Shining Armor's horn encrusted with crystals, rendering him unable to support the forcefield his wife holds over the city. When the Crystal Empire is finally saved, Cadance is declared the new Princess of the city, and likewise Shining Armor takes his place beside her as Prince Consort.

In the fifth season episode "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows", it is revealed that Shining Armor and Cadance are expecting a child. He becomes the father to Flurry Heart in the sixth season premiere "The Crystalling". This role proves extremely exhausting for the stallion, but he proves deeply committed to his family.

In the spin-off reboot series My Little Pony: Pony Life, Shining Armor appears in the episode Little Miss Fortune as the ringmaster of the circus of the Crystal Empire Carnival. His family relations to Cadance and Twilight are not specified.

Shining Armor's human world counterpart makes a cameo appearance in My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games as a former student of Crystal Prep Academy, in which he encourages Twilight Sparkle's human world counterpart to participate in the titular competition as he had done in the past. He also makes a background appearance in the Dashing Through the Mall segment of the special My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Holidays Unwrapped.

Kevin Fletcher wrote that in "A Canterlot Wedding" he is given "the traits of a romantic hero, but he is under the grasp of Queen Chrysalis" and ultimately requires rescue by the female protagonists. Fletcher wrote that despite Shining Armor's position as captain of the royal guard, the episode relegates him to a supporting role even in his own wedding episodes, and the main dialogue and action largely belong to the female characters.^[2]

Christian Valiente and Xeno Rasmusson wrote that Shining Armor was an example of how Friendship Is Magic positions male characters as "secondary" to female leads: despite his military rank and authority, he is "rendered inept" and "under the command of females" throughout his major appearances. They commented that even when male characters like Shining Armor "have power and authority," the show "consistently focus[es] on female characters in positions of leadership," and male characters primarily serve a supportive role rather than drive plot development.^[3]

Samuel Oatley wrote that Shining Armor fits the "Symbiotic Father" archetype, in which male parental figures in contemporary animation become increasingly defined not by their individual characters, but by their relations within the family (i.e. his marriage with Cadance, his relationship with his sister as a "B.B.B.F.F.", and his status as a parent to Flurry Heart). Oatley wrote that Shining Armor's character trajectory shows how modern cartoon fathers are often stripped of autonomous identity and transforms a complex individual into vessels whose primary purpose is to facilitate the growth and development of their dependents.^[4]

Sherilyn Connelly of SF Weekly wrote that Shining Armor, being the captain of Canterlot's Royal Guard, is an indication that "unicorns have always been at the top of the social ladder", and is evidence of Twilight's social privilege in Equestrian society.^[5] Carly Olsen of Screen Rant ranked the pairing between Shining Armor and Princess Cadance as one of the ten best pairings in the series.^[6] Theo A. Peck-Suzuki wrote that their relationship represents a "romantic ideal" and "successful marriage" within the show's narrative; fan-created merchandise featuring the pair are popular, such as custom plushies with magnetic noses designed to simulate kissing.^[7]

• Princess Cadance
• Twilight Sparkle
• Princess Celestia
• Princess Luna
• List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic characters