Shining Armor knew he was one of the luckiest men in the entire world. He had a loving family, graduated with honors from one of the most prestigious High Schools in the country, a job that fulfilled him, and the most beautiful girlfriend. Though as soon as the moment was right, he’d ask her to make him even luckier by marrying him.

And lately, he’d even witnessed real magic. Not make-believe or pretend like when he played with his highschool pals, but real magic. And it was thanks to the most brilliant little sister in the world and her friend, who was apparently a denizen from an alternate universe. Shining loved it every time those two girls asked him to build this or carry that, since it was all related to their magical experiments.

Of course, it helped that Sunset had become part of the family. She was Twilight’s best friend, and Shining could almost see her as another little sister. Almost, because he saw the way Twilight looked at her. Honestly, everyone but Sunset herself knew that there was something more than friendship in Twilight’s eyes. Though whether that came to something was another story entirely. They all had agreed not to meddle and just let the girls figure things out… If they ever stopped working on their projects long enough.

In any case, Shining considered himself a happy man with a happy life.

That, of course, didn’t stop him from worrying about the people he cared about. Especially when two of them were currently walking around in another world where a myriad of dangers could potentially await them at every corner. His worry showed in the form of his foot constantly rapping at the floor and his finger tapping on the steering wheel.

“They’re fine, dear,” Cadence said from the co-pilot seat. She had wrapped herself in a fluffy blanket to fend off the coldness of the night. “I know you promised not to tell me anything Sunset hasn’t told us already, but I do know you. If you thought they were in real danger, you wouldn’t have allowed them to go. At least, not Twilight.”

She was right, and on the intellectual level, Shining was aware of that. But he couldn’t do anything about his nervous anxiety. He was a worrying big brother before he was a logical man. Why, he shuddered in terror every time he pictured Twilight being old enough to drive and having to deal with all the other people that wouldn’t respect traffic laws.

“Here, have a cookie,” Cadence said, lifting a package of chocolate chip cookies.

Shining smiled as he took one. “Thanks, Cady. I’m glad I have you with me.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek as he munched on the cookie. He truly was a lucky man.

He looked to his left and immediately became alert. Someone was running towards them. He leaned over and narrowed his eyes. He’d recognize that hair anywhere. Getting out of the car, Shining hurried to meet his sister, then saw her fall flat on her face and skid a few feet.

“Twilight!” He yelled as he finally reached her. “Are you alright? What happened?”

Twilight moaned as she lifted herself. She accepted Shining’s hand and stood up on wobbly legs. Her nose was a bit scratched, but otherwise looked fine.

“I’m fine,” she said. “But I guess walking on two legs again is messing up with my balance.”

Shining blinked. “What?”

Twilight shook her head. “Never mind that. Sunset is bringing heavy luggage with her. Could you help us carry it?” She looked behind him and brightened up. “Cadence! You’re here too?”

“I was keeping your brother company,” she replied, and Shining noticed the slight tone of concern she tried to hide. “Everything alright? I thought you girls would be back tomorrow.”

“I…” Twilight bit her lower lip for a moment. “I’ll tell you later. For now, we need to help Sunset.” She eyed Cadence warily.

Cadence picked up on her apprehension. “I’ll be here so I don’t know the way to Sunset’s world. But you better hurry. It’s not proper to leave a girl all alone in an empty parking lot.”

Shining kissed her appreciatively, then followed Twilight towards the school’s front lawn. He could already see that a massive box was sitting at the foot of the statue. “Is that it?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. As they reached the statue, a second chest came through, materializing into existence from the surface of the stone and falling onto the first chest. “Come on, let’s get them out of the way before Sunset crosses and trips on them.”

Shining pushed away his giddiness at watching such a magical phenomenon and helped Twilight pull the incredibly heavy chests out of the way. What on earth had they brought from magicland?

Before he could even think of opening the top chest, the portal’s surface rippled as if it were water, and out came Sunset Shimmer, who only stumbled a little before standing upright. Shining didn’t fail to notice that while Sunset had arrived with the same clothes she’d left —though she was wearing a backpack now, Twilight was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt that looked to be very high quality and she most definitely had not owned.

Sunset looked at him, and Shining felt a chill run down his spine at the expression on her face. There were faint shadows under her eyes, which were a bit reddened both in the white part and around the eyelids.

Wordlessly, Sunset stepped towards the chests and tried lifting one. It didn’t budge. She huffed and tried again, and it barely moved a smidge. Then, to Shining’s bewilderment, she let out a harrowing scream, as if it was being forced out of her. Her face turned red with rage and she started kicking the chests, screaming all the while. Shining instinctively grabbed Twilight by the arms and pulled her away.

With one final kick, the chest on the top fell to the ground with a loud thud. It went completely ignored, however, since Sunset fell to her knees and began hitting the ground with her fists. Over and over again she hit the ground, screaming and crying. So loud she was that Cadence came running, and she placed a hand to her mouth at the scene.

After what felt like hours, Sunset finally started to calm down. Her voice came out raspy and her breathing was so heavy it sounded as if she had been drowning. And when she looked like she was finally done, her eyes closed with a final choky breath and her body fell like a wet rag, hitting the ground rather hard.

Shining and Cadence rushed to her to make sure she hadn’t hit herself too hard.

“Is she going to be ok?” Twilight asked so low that Shining had barely heard her.

Letting Cadence check on Sunset, Shining stood up and turned to look at his sister. “Twilight, what happened over there?”

“I…” Twilight hugged herself and looked down. “We learned that the princess replaced her with another student. Sunset got really angry and decided to return tonight, but… I-I didn’t know she’d get like that!” She started crying. “I-It’s all m-my fault!”

Shining knelt down and grabbed Twilight by her shoulders. “What? Of course it isn’t your fault, Twily.”

“But it is!” Twilight yelled as tears ran down her cheeks. “If I hadn’t insisted on going, she wouldn’t have taken me to that restaurant, and we wouldn’t have met that girl that told us about the princess’ new student! It’s my fault Sunset got hurt!”

Shining had no idea what she was babbling about, but it was useless to try to reason with her in that state, so he simply hugged her and let her cry on his shoulder, caressing her head all the while. It was another twenty minutes before Twilight calmed down.

“She’s going to be fine,” Cadence announced as she held Sunset’s head on her lap. “She just passed out, and she’s breathing normally. We should take her to my dad’s clinic to make sure she didn’t get hurt when she fell, though.”

“Can you call him?” Shining asked.

Cadence smiled. “Already did. He’s on his way.”

Shining smiled at her, then looked at Twilight. “Now, Twily, we’re going to spend the night at Cadence’s house. We can load these heavy chests on the car for now. Do you want to help me?”

Twilight only replied with a nod.

“I’ll go get the car so we don’t have to carry them for long. Stay here with Cadence for the moment, then you’ll help me with the chests.”

Twilight walked towards Cadence and wordlessly knelt down in front of her, looking at Sunset. Shining suppressed a sigh and hurried towards his car, thinking about what he had just witnessed. Whatever happened on the other side of the portal had shaken Sunset to her core, and that was going to affect everyone around her, including Shining himself. He saw her like a little sister, and it broke him that she had been hurt so much.

He only hoped that she would see him at the very least like a good enough friend that she’d confide in him and talk. Shining doubted he’d be able to solve her problem or protect her from what had hurt her, but the least he could do was listen, and sometimes, that was all one needed to feel better.

Fortunately, he was lucky enough that he was surrounded by loving people who all would do their best to help Sunset get through these tough times.

Author's Note

You know how some fanfics of this kind have Shining as either an antagonist or a too-suspicious older brother? Yeah, none of that here.

This was a bit too short, but I hope you liked it nonetheless. I'll be awaiting your comments on the matter!

Now, I do have a bit of an announcement to make. Because of the holidays and other stuff, the fic will go on hiatus for the next month. Do not worry, the next volume is completed and ready for publish, so don't worry, A Destiny of Their Own will be back. When specifically? On January 9th.

Meanwhile, feel free to comment and even post on my mainpage if you wanna talk or something. Happy holidays and remember to drink plenty of water!