As the armies of the Alliance and Horde clashed, Shining Armour had a horrified expression on his face. As a soldier, he had experienced war first hand, but never before had he seen a battle fought with such ferocity and hatred.

Both sides seemed all too eager to damage the other, taking great pride in chopping off limbs and tormenting their wounded enemies.

Turning his gaze away from the battle, Shining's eyes focused upon his sister, who had her eyes shut firmly. Her hooves were firmly grasped around her ears, as she tried desperately to block out the sounds of carnage around her.

Looking towards Princess Celestia, Shining Armour saw that she was watching the battle with a look of indifference. Obviously, she had been around a lot longer than he had, so she no doubt has seen battles just like this, if not worse.

"You seem to have something on your mind, Shining Armour." Celestia said, fixing her gaze on him.

"I'm sorry, your Highness." Shining replied, bowing deeply. "It's just that ... I've never seen anything like this before."

Celestia nodded.

"I understand." she said softly.

"Pardon me for saying, Princess," Shining said hesitantly, "but I couldn't help but notice you don't seem phased by this."

Celestia sighed.

"I've seen this sort of thing before." she said. "Hundreds of years ago, during the Gryphon invasion."

Shining nodded.

"I see." he said. "I assume you don't want to talk about it, so I shall respect your wishes."

Celestia smiled.

"Thank you." she said quietly.

Shining looked down at his sister. Her eyes were shut tight, and she was crying. He wrapped his forehooves around her, squeezing her tight. She returned the hug, and her eyes shot open as the sounds of battle reached her now uncovered ears.

"Make it stop!" she pleaded.

She slowly turned to look at the scene and winced upon seeing the bodies. In the distance, she saw Zorann and Luxxoria fighting with their former allies, which bewildered the Alliance soldiers.

Twilight shut her eyes again. The tears continued to flow as Shining gazed out across the battlefield.

"Please, Shiny. Make them go away." Twilight begged.

Shining Armour looked down at his sister upon hearing her use his nickname. As he looked upon the shaking unicorn, he found himself thinking back to when she was a filly.

"It's OK, Twiley. There's nothing here." he said softly.

"No!" came the small voice from under the covers. "I saw a monster! I know I did!"

Shining chuckled quietly as he walked around Twilight's room, opening drawers and cupboards.

'She isn't gonna come out of there unless I do something.' he thought. Suddenly, he had an idea.

He opened a cupboard and put on his best scary voice.

"Grrrr! I have been discovered!"

"Eek!" Twilight squealed. "Shiny, make it go away!"

"So you are the fiend who has been scaring my sister?" he said in his normal voice.

"Yes, I am!" he replied to himself in his new found monster voice. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll show you!" he shouted. Looking around, he found a pillow on the floor from where Twilight had thrown it. He picked it up and began punching it, while making pain noises.

"No! I am defeated!" Shining dropped the pillow as he made a groaning noise. "I shall never again scare little fillies!"

"See to it that you don't! Or you'll have me to deal with. NOW GO."

Shining trotted on the spot for a while before stopping.

"I defeated the monster, Twiley!" he said cheerfully. "Are you going to come out now?"

The covers shot off the bed as Twilight leapt on him, wrapping herself around his neck.

"Yayyy, Shiny! You're the best big brother ever!" she said as she hugged him. Shining returned the hug.

"And you're the best little sister ever." he said with a smile. "Come on, let's go get you something to drink."

Clutching his sister tightly, he left the room.

Opening his eyes, Shining Armour smiled at the memory. As he looked over the battlefield, his eyes narrowed.

"JUST BECAUSE I PROTECTED MY SISTER FROM MONSTERS AS A FILLY," he shouted, causing everyone nearby to jump slightly, "DOESN'T MEAN I HAVE TO STOP PROTECTING HER AS AN ADULT."

His horn glowed, and soon he was enveloped in his trademark shield. He hoofed at the ground and snorted, hot air escaping from his nostrils.

"THE MONSTERS MAY BE DIFFERENT," he roared, "BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T DEFEAT YOU!"

Shining let out a battle cry as he charged onto the battlefield. The Horde soldiers turned to see him bearing down on them, and unleashed a torrent of magic and arrows towards him.

The arrows simply bounced off the shield, while the spells were deflected back to their casters. They screamed as their own spells slammed into them, searing their flesh or causing them to be frozen solid.

Shining continued his rampage, his eyes burning with rage. He bucked aside several Horde, his hooves connecting with their skulls with a sickening crack. As he advanced, he saw two figures duelling in the distance. One of them he knew as Varian.

He screamed with rage as he realised the other figure was Garrosh. Running as fast as his hooves would carry him, he used his shield as a battering ram, knocking the Warchief onto his side.

"What is this?!" Garrosh demanded. He saw the furious Shining standing before him, his shield still holding fast.

"Pitiful creature!" roared the orc. "I will teach you not to cross me!"

Garrosh jumped to his feet and brought his axe down with all his might onto the shield. He gasped as the weapon simply bounced off it. He then screamed as the force of the rebound caused the weapon to embed itself in his chest.

"How ... is this ... possible?" Garrosh rasped as he dropped to his knees. "My axe ... should be able ... to penetrate ... any shield known to orc-kind."

Shining let out a hollow laugh.

"This is one shield you orcs don't know about!" he snarled. "This shield was conjured by the power of love."

Garrosh laughed weakly.

"Yes, go ahead and laugh." Shining said spitefully. "The love I hold for Equestria, my fellow ponies, and my sister helped. I knew that you wouldn't be able to get through it..."

Shining brought his face close to Garrosh's.

"... because you don't know the MEANING of love."

Garrosh opened his mouth to reply, but instead let out a guttural groan as his body slumped forward onto the ground.

The surviving Horde immediately broke into a retreat, scrambling for their portal as fast as they could, while Twilight approached her brother nervously.

"Shiny?" she asked. The shield dissipated as Shining turned to face his sister.

"Twiley." he nodded and grinned.

Twilight hugged her brother.

"I knew I could count on you, B.B.B.F.F." she said softly.

"I love you, Twiley." Shining whispered. "I'll do anything to see you happy and safe."

"I guess congratulations are in order then." said Zorann, as he and Luxxoria nervously approached.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool." Luxxoria said with a small laugh.

Shining nodded and continued hugging his sister as the clean up operation began.

"Hey, Lux?" Zorann asked quietly.

Luxxoria sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." she groaned.

Reaching into her bags, she took out some gold coins and pressed them into Zorann's hands.

"There's your twenty gold."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry it took so long. Real Life came first. Hope you enjoyed it!