@Poison Trail
Except that “camping the throne room” is by default against the spirit of the challenge, because Shining is not one of the castle’s normal defenses, especially not in the throne room.
Even if he did live in the throne room 24/7, him just seeing Twilight would not prevent her (and her friends) from being able to retrieve the crown, so he played it grossly unfairly
again. Just by him sitting in the throne room and making him
seeing her a losing condition makes the challenge effectively impossible AND pointless; if a villain gets past the security and Shining is waiting there, they’re not going to surrender. The point of defenses are to keep the intruder from getting to the crown/thrones, not to just catch them in the act.
He both changed the rules without telling Twilight and acted smug for “beating” her because of it.
Imagine if were playing hide and seek with your brother where you aren’t supposed to leave the house, but couldn’t find him. Then it turns out you couldn’t find him because he biked to his friend’s house for the duration of the game, and then he acted smug about beating you. That’s what Shining did, and apparently with Celestia’s approval as well.