Carefully, Shining Armor himself inspected the damage. With my "Lightstaff" - the psionically activated staff I used as a weapon when I had no other choice - I'd swiftly dispatched the Hydra, neatly severing all seven heads, the psionic plasma of the staff cauterizing the wounds before the heads could regenerate.
To Twilight Sparkle's horror, her brother nodded with satisfaction, before he stated brusquely, "Heads neatly severed; a bloodless kill." Then, turning to me as I was cleaning my equipment, he asked, "There wasn't another way this could have been resolved?"
Immediately, I answered, "No sir. Fluttershy was gathering herbs with Zecora deep in the Everfree when this Hydra decided to rampage out of it. I... I had to act."
Shining nodded; then he looked into my eyes, and I looked into his. Though this was the first time I'd met him, understanding seemed to pass between us; we'd both been there and seen shit. A gentle hoof-to-fist bump later and then Shining Armor grunted, "None of that 'sir' shit, Templar. Name's Shining Armor, and I'd like to thank you for your help here." I nodded and he continued. "'S'not often that a Hydra will rage out of the Everfree, but when they do... well, they can cause a lot of damage not to mention loss of life. If you hadn't dealt with this when you did..." He shook his head, then continued, "You'll need to come with me, soon - we'll need your statement, and I'd like to get a look at your weapon; the weapon that did this - but first, I need to see that my sister is safe, assess any damages, things like that..."
With a gentle gesture, I hushed him, then slowly withdrew the inactive 'handle' of my Lightstaff from my belt. At this, Shining Armor tensed, but then, when he saw I was going to hand him the weapon, he relaxed and took it from me carefully. Turning it over in his magical aura, he examined it from every angle, noting the fine craftsmanship of the golden psi-steel and the fact that it looked like two torches with their back ends seamlessly joined together. "I... I don't understand," he said after a while. "How does it work?" Gently, he gave it back to me and I explained, "It's a psionic weapon; I'm the only one who can activate it. I have to channel my power through it for it to work."
Shining Armor nodded. "Please," he said. Stepping back from him, I bowed deeply to him in respect. Then, holding the weapon in the 'middle' of the handle - one hand over, one hand under - I channeled the psionic energy of my mind into the weapon. Less then a second passed as the two perfectly cut khaydarin crystals inside the weapon absorbed and focused said power through a series of crystalline lenses; then there was a distinct humming sound as two tightly focused beams of psionic plasma extended from the ends of the weapon. Shining Armor sucked in a breath, his eyes widening, as I performed a simple staff kata for him; then a little while later he came over to me as I stood before him with my weapon still active. Warily, he eyed the psionic-blades then made to touch them and as he did I dropped the staff's power to its lowest level then formed the "blades" into rounded shafts of hardened light.
Hoof gently met staff, Shining drew in a shaky breath... and then his eyes became exceptionally wide as the non-lethal energy of the staff entered his body through that touch, the Unicorn stallion visibly relaxing as he not only felt the gentle, rejuvenating effect of the psionic energy, but also my calm, centered emotions that came along with said energy: the want to protect pony kind and Equestria. As he felt this, gained glimpses of my many long years of life, so too did I gain insights of him, his memories and nature as the staff acted as a conduit for our thoughts. Mere seconds passed yet during that time I knew Shining Armor and he knew me.
Gently, contact was broken. We two, human and pony hugged as like old, old friends, and when we parted, Shining let out a little sob, his eyes as suspiciously misty as mine. "Thanks," he said. I petted his head, ruffled his mane a little, and he grumbled good-naturedly and hoofed at me; I poked at him playfully and we laughed. Then, with a final nod, he straightened - his gait and expression renewed, even more resolved and determined - and turned to address Twilight Sparkle. Immediately she babbled at him, telling him how I'd slaughtered the 'poor' Hydra, that I was a murderer of animals, that I needed to be locked up or banished or locked up in the place I was banished to.
And Shining...
He gave her a look that was "really?"
Then, he spoke to her. But not as Shining Armor, her brother. Instead, he spoke to her as Shining Armor Captain of the Canterlot Guard. He barked at her like a Drill Sergeant, thoroughly, utterly dressing her down. If the ponies of Ponyville weren't awake, well they were now. I'm sure that the ponies in Vanhoover heard him, his voice was so loud! By the time he was finished with her Twilight was in tears; only then did he talk to her softly as her brother, gently explaining to her exactly what would have happened had I not stopped the Hydra.