The rain drummed incessantly on the roof of the jail and the slick cobbles outside in the courtyard. The dirty, stained window and a stuttering lightbulb behind a grate in the ceiling provided the only, faint illumination in the otherwise dark cell. Its occupant sat on the bed, staring at the floor, his eyes blank and distant. He was broken, his mind still scarcely able to comprehend what had happened to him; what was about to happen to him.
It was on a rainy night like this that she said we were through...
He sat staring at the floor for a while, jumbled thoughts and images running through his mind. Other than the pattering of the rain, the only sound that could be heard within the room was the falling of each tear as he sobbed silently.
His mind flashed back to how it all began. Years ago, a long time now. They first met when Cadence was chosen to be his sister's foalsitter one summer. He knew right away that she was the one that he wanted to marry, as cliched as that sounded to him now. It was true- he had fallen head over hooves in love with her. He became fiercely possessive of her; he wanted her all to himself; he was the one who loved her, he was the one she wanted to be with, and all he had ever wanted from that point on was to be with her.
He had given such a savage beating to a young stallion who had been flirting with her at a party that he ended up in hospital and Shining ended up before the disciplinary board and nearly sent home in disgrace from Officer Training School. He knew, though, that it was worth the reprimand and the official sanction on his record, because that was the first time she ever told him she loved him.
It had clearly done his career no harm, and in due course he became the youngest Captain of the Guard in that illustrious organisation's long history. That gave him the courage he needed to propose to Cadence not long after, and they married at the palace in the grandest ceremony he had ever attended. Celestia herself had carried out the ceremony, the greatest honour of all. By doing so she had given her personal blessing to the marriage- after all, he would be marrying her niece. She smiled warmly at them both as she pronounced them husband and wife, and it was the happiest he had ever been.
That was three years ago now. A lot had happened since; his own sister had become a Princess, through some obscure method that he was not entirely familiar with. King Sombra had been defeated. Discord, that arch-nemesis of ponykind, had been 'reformed,' or so it seemed. Shining himself had led the purgation of the Changeling Hive, cleansing it with bullet and flame and ensuring that Canterlot would see no more infiltrations of the kind that had interrupted his wedding plans.
Through it all, Cadence had stood loyally at his side. Or so he thought.
About twelve months ago, not long after Cadence had returned from Canterlot on a week-long royal visit, he had approved a sudden transfer request from one of his most trusted and capable subordinates, Flash Sentry. He wanted to be reassigned from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire, where Cadence oversaw the government and Shining the defence. He was a little surprised that he wanted to be transferred- he was something of a rising star in the Guard and had been doing good work in the capital. But, he thought, some ponies just want a change of scenery now and then.
"Congratulations, sir! You're a very lucky stallion!" he had said at the wedding reception. "And if I may be so bold, your wife is a very lucky mare to be married to an officer like you." They had smiled, laughed, and shared a drink. Flash was a great officer, courteous, determined, disciplined; even a good friend, or at least as good as he could be, given that Shining was his superior officer.
He thought nothing more of it and approved the request.
The next year passed without incident. The Crystal Empire was as secure as it had ever been, and the Guard units stationed there found themselves dealing almost entirely with internal policing matters. With so little action and so much downtime, Shining found himself spending a lot of time simply wandering around the castle and its grounds. One afternoon a few months ago, he had been passing by his quarters, intending to stop in and spend a few minutes with his wife before continuing his rounds.
He was puzzled when he found the door locked. He was sure he could hear voices within, until he knocked on the door. After a minute Cadence opened it, her mane ruffled and out of place.
"Oh, Shining!" she began. "Sorry, I...I was just taking a nap. I had a busy morning, so many meetings!" She smiled nervously. He noticed that the bed looked slept in and that the bedroom window was wide open, the lace curtains undulating gently in the breeze.
"Are you alright?" he asked. He had never known her to nap during the day before.
"Oh yes, I'm fine. I just had a little bit of a headache, that's all!" she replied. "You don't need to worry about me. In fact, I think I should be getting back to work now!" She smiled, pecked him on the cheek, and bustled out of the room, heading back to the governmental chambers. He had been a little concerned, but he never gave it too much thought at the time. Maybe she just overworked herself on this particular day, and maybe he had just imagined the voices, or heard echoes from some other room?
Several more times over the next few months he came home to find the door locked and Cadence 'napping.' He began to get suspicious, but...there was no way she could do such a thing! At least, that was what he convinced himself. So instead he began to become concerned for her health- all these naps and sudden headaches? Maybe something was wrong with her?
He told her as much, one night a few weeks ago, after he came home and was greeted by a locked door again.
"I'm worried about you, darling!" he said. "What if all these headaches you've been getting...what if it's something serious? Don't you think you should go see a doctor?" She shook her head firmly.
"No, no! It's just...overwork, that's all it is. I'm fine, really." She smiled reassuringly at him, and though her voice wavered slightly he could detect no insincerity in her face.
Well, by that point she'd had a lot of practice lying to me already...
That night, they made long, passionate love together, and everything was alright with the world as far as he was concerned.
More boring weeks passed, until that fateful day, exactly one week ago, when his whole life fell apart at the seams.
After his shift ended, he had headed home, feeling a little tired himself. Though he had not been anywhere other than his office that day, the paperwork had suddenly piled up and he found himself writing reports for hours on end. He was looking forward to getting home, to spending the evening with Cadence. He walked home through the rain that pelted down from the leaden sky.
When he opened the door, he saw her sitting at the table. He smiled at her, embraced her warmly. She just sat there, her face unmoving.
"Are you alright?" he asked her, a note of concern entering his voice. She looked up at him with eyes that had lost their fire, and he knew something was wrong.
"I...I can't do this anymore..." she said quietly. At first, he thought she was talking about governing the Crystal Empire; the headaches, the overwork...he thought it was all falling into place now.
"I can't keep lying to you...I have to tell you the truth."
His heart began to sink. No...surely...there was no way...
"I...I've been seeing somepony else..." Her words were like a hammer blow smashing into his ribcage. His mind refused to process them. He knew, he just knew, that she would never cheat on him! And yet, here she was, admitting it to his face.
"I....don't love you anymore..." she swallowed hard as she spoke. She gave her reasons, but he didn't hear them. His heart was beating so hard, all he could hear was the sound of it pounding in his ears. He only had one question.
"Who?"
She hesitated, and he asked again in an emotionless voice.
"Who?"
"Flash...Flash Sentry..."
He could hardly believe what he was being told. It was like something from one of those two-bit romance novels that Twilight collected in her library for her friends to read. His wife, and his trusted subordinate? She told him why, and how long. Slightly longer than a year, not that the duration mattered to him. She explained that she wanted to be with Flash, that she would probably be filing for divorce. He just stood there, staring at the floor.
"I'm sorry..." she began. He just turned and walked away.
Not knowing what else to do, he returned to his office with several bottles of whiskey and drank himself stupid. The sudden, crippling loneliness that gripped him burned through his empty, aching soul like the alcohol burned through his gut as he drank. How could be have been so blind? The signs were there. The sudden transfer, the 'naps.' But he put all thoughts of such things out of his mind, because he was so sure that she would never be unfaithful. He was sure- he was utterly convinced, he KNEW she would never do such a thing! But she did, and with HIM. That sneaking, shameless bastard.He had pinned Flash's bars on himself, when he completed the Officer Training School, taken him under his wing as one of a few specialist candidates for more advanced training, and this was how he repaid him?
Maybe she had loved him before, when they were engaged. Maybe their marriage hadn't been a sham, but none of that mattered anymore. She had destroyed whatever it was they had, and she had destroyed him. He drank himself to sleep, and for every swig he took, he cried a thousand tears.
The days passed as if in a dream. He slept in his office, hardly emerging at all. His subordinates began to talk; rumours began to circulate in the city, most of them accurate. Think of the scandal, and the Princess of love, no less! Could it really be true? You couldn't make it up! A right royal affair, to be sure! What ever will Celestia have to say?
Three days ago, the divorce papers arrived on his desk in the morning post. Again he spent the day drinking himself stupid. That evening, his head still spinning, bottle still in his hoof, he went out walking alone.
Luna's moon shone down brightly, illuminating the city and making its crystal spires glisten and twinkle with fractured radiance. He stumbled along, sloppily returning the salutes of the few guardponies he passed. He knew where he was going, and why.
When he got there, he hammered on the door that had once led to his home. Cadence opened it slowly. He knew what he was going to say; he had planned it all out over and over in his drunken mind. Slurring his words, he spoke.
"Cadence, I love you...p-please, don't do this....don't go..." Her expression changed to one of pity, as much for his drunken appearance as anything else. Then came that fateful moment.
He was there. He appeared in the bedroom doorway, framed there, as if he were in Shining's gunsight. His gun...
He carried his service revolver with him everywhere- it had hardly left his side since it was issued. The sight of him filled Shining with rage. How could he? How could she?
"Uh...s-sir..." Flash stammered, saluting and walking towards them. "I, uh..."
"Don't salute me, you piece of shit!" he shouted, his voice still slurred. He dropped the bottle.
"Shining, please..." Cadence began. But it was too late. He had been driven too far, and in his drunken mind he thought it was a good idea. His hoof dropped to his hip and pulled out his revolver. Cadence's eyes widened in shock. Flash, unarmed, could do nothing.
Before he could stop and think about it, before his brain could tell him what a terrible idea this was, before he even knew what was happening, his trembling hoof had brought the gun up.
Surprising his addled brain with his relative accuracy, he pulled the trigger four times.
He missed with his first, but the others found their target and Flash went down, his orange coat spattered with crimson blood. Cadence screamed, backing away. Her horn started to glow. Not knowing why, he quickly cast a magic nullification spell on her, one they taught all unicorn guards to help restrain and capture suspects.
Flash was already dead, but Shining crossed the room and put another round through his head to make sure. Then he turned to Cadence. Her face had turned ashen and she stared at her dead lover, tears swelling up in her eyes.
He raised his revolver again, his hoof swaying.
"No, no....please..." she begged, trembling. "Please don't..."
"You were my life," he said simply, and pulled the trigger.
It was done. Smoke curled lazily from the barrel of his revolver. He looked around, at the blood spattered on the floor and the wall, at the bodies of his wife and her lover. They had robbed him of his life, so he had robbed them of theirs. He looked at Cadence, her lifeless eyes staring up at him, unseeing.
His alcohol-addled brain finally processed what had just happened. He began to shake.
'W-what have I done...?' he whispered to himself. Another cliched line from one of Twilight's romance novels, but I actually said it. Can you believe that?
He could hear the pounding of hoofbeats outside in the corridor as the guards came running, alerted by the gunshots. He shuddered, raised the revolver to his temple, and pulled the trigger.
The hammer clicked down on an empty chamber. He had already fired every round. The gun clattered to the floor as he staggered over to the table and slumped in a chair, helpless, unable to even face death on his own terms.
Two grey guardsponies appeared in the doorway, their rifles raised. He noticed their stunned expressions when they saw the bodies and blood.
'S-sir?' one of them asked. 'What...what happened?' The other one nodded at the still smoking gun on the floor.
'Sir...turn around and put your hooves behind your back.' His youthful partner looked quizzically at him. 'Do it now, sir.' Silently, without changing his expression, Shining stood up and turned around. The guard pulled out a pair of shackles and hoofcuffed him before turning to his partner.
'Go get help. I think this one is above our pay grade.'
He had been locked up in the castle jail overnight before being transferred to Canterlot prison. The night before the trial, he had but one visitor- Twilight.
At first she just stood there in the doorway of the cell for a while, her face pale and her lips quivering. He did not know what to say to her. She did not know what to say to him. Eventually, she asked the obvious question.
'Why? Why did you do it?' He swallowed hard, searching for the answer. He didn't know himself. He was drunk, yes, but that was no excuse. Neither was her infidelity. He had murdered two ponies; his wife and his trusted subordinate. He had shot them down in cold blood, because he was angry and drunk and alone.
'I don't know why,' he said quietly. 'I just...she was my world...without her, I'm nothing.' Twilight sobbed.
'They're going to...you know they will g-give you....give you the...death penalty...' Tears flowed freely as she spoke. He nodded and embraced her, holding her tightly.
'I'm sorry, Twiley,' he whispered. 'I...I guess I just wasn't strong enough.'
The jury took just fifteen minutes to decide on a verdict. The evidence was conclusive, not to mention that he had entered a guilty plea. The judge nodded sagely and removed his glasses.
'Shining Armour, you have been found guilty by a jury of your peers of the murders of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Chief Warrant Officer Flash Sentry. It is the judgement of this court that you be taken from this place and hanged by the neck until dead.'
He had expected nothing less. He looked down at the floor. Twilight had been in the audience, but he could not meet her gaze. He knew she could never forgive him for what he had done. Neither could he forgive himself, and he knew he must die for his crime.
The rain continued to fall outside his cell. His horn was covered with a magic damper, to prevent any escapes. Though there was no clock, he knew the appointed hour must be close at hand. He sighed heavily, his face slick with tears. His last meal had already come and gone. There was nothing to do but wait for the inevitable, and pray that it would be quick. It had been quick for his victims; surely the gods would grant him that small mercy?
Hoofsteps outside his cell stirred him from his retrospection. Keys jangled in the lock. It was time.
The door swung slowly open. Two guards and the prison warden were standing there. The warden nodded at him. He composed himself, stood, and followed them.
The courtyard was drenched. The dark sky above gave no indication of the rain abating any time soon. Within seconds he was soaked, his coat and mane slicked flat against his skin. There was a small crowd around the gallows, mostly guards and members of the prison staff, but he could see a few familiar figures. Princess Celestia towered above the rest, sheltering under a magical umbrella. She followed him with grim eyes as he made the longest walk of his life.
Twilight was there too, clad in a black waterproof coat. She stood in the rain to hide her tears. The guards led him up onto the platform. They slipped the noose around his neck, the coarse rope digging into his coat. The warden read the sentence.
They would bury Cadence tomorrow, but they were hanging him tonight.
