Keeping Their Hearts in Check
Princess Cadance smiled at her husband. "C'mon, Shining! What I'm going to show you is amazing!"
Shining chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and what is this you want to show me?"
Shining was sitting in the throne room, and Cadance stood in the hallway, beckoning him over. "I can't tell you! It's a surprise!"
The prince rolled his eyes but followed her. "You sound like Pinkie Pie."
She smiled. "Well, Pinkie Pie helped me create it!"
The prince smiled nervously. Pinkie wasn't known for safety. "Well, as long as it's safe."
It was probably just him, but he could've sworn there was a strange light in his wife's eyes. "Don't worry, Shiny. It's perfectly safe."
He followed her along the corridor, wondering just what her surprise could be. He was confused when she led him to a crystal pillar. She spoke an enchantment, and a rectangle sunk into the pillar and lifted up.
Shining was more than apprehensive. But, he trusted her. He knew she would keep him safe, and him her.
So he followed her into the column. It led down a set of creaky wooden stairs. The ceiling was stone, and this hallway was small and cramped. He could hear the sound of something leaking. There was a pungent odor in the air, making Shining crinkle his nose. The wooden stairs were coated in a sticky substance that he couldn't see in the dark.
Cadance's horn glow was the only light, a faint pink light in the darkness. Soon they arrived at a door. Shining could tell it was a door because the light from Cadance's horn reflected off of the doorknob.
Shining was trying not to panic, assuring himself Cadance wouldn't do anything to harm him. Or anypony.
She then opened the door. They walked in, and Shining looked around. It was too dark to tell what was around them. He heard the door behind him close- And Cadance lock it.
That was unsettling.
She walked over to the wall, and flipped a switch. Florescent lights flickered on in the ceiling, revealing what hid in the darkness.
Shining Armour was horrified and disgusted.
Lining the long hallway were shelves, stained a sickening red. Chains stuck up from these shelves, holding a certain vital organ in it's cold metal embrace.
Hearts.
And plaques read different names under them. Shining threw up, and when he looked up from his pool of disgust, he saw Cadance smiling sweetly at him. "What.... What is this...?" He spoke in raspy voice.
She still smiled sweetly, her voice forever kind and caring. "This is the Hall of Hearts! Celestia told me to make sure that lives are kept in the balance, and gave me them so I could keep watch for when a pony has to die, or if they have to have a heart attack, or if they're heartbroken or in love!" Her eyes shone with the glint from earlier, and her husband was disgusted. "Isn't it just marvelous, having complete control over somebody's life."
Shining backed up. "It's disgusting, and wrong! You kill pony's whenever you feel like it!"
She chuckled. It was sickening to Shining's ears. "Oh Shining..... It's not disgusting, nor wrong! Celestia told me to do this, and I love doing it!" She pointed to a corner, where a pile of crystallized hearts lay, cracked and dusty. "It's how I got my Cutie Mark after all!"
Shining backed up against the door. "Y-You can't just do this!"
She chuckled again, walking towards one of the shelves. "Oh I can, Shining. I get to choose what happens in everypony's life!" She looked at one heart, with a plaque beneath it that red 'Granny Smith.' "She has lived her life. I do believe she has to say buh-bye!" Her sparkly pink magic touched the hart, and Shining watched in horror as it slowly turned to crystal, and was levitated over to the pile of discarded hearts.
Shining could tell that the sticky substance was blood, now that he had regained some sanity after the initial shock. He could see few empty shelves, and was confused. But he had more important worries to worry about.
Cadance was walking towards another heart, but stopped as Shining spoke. "I-I'll tell somebody! I'll gather the Elements of Harmony to defeat you!"
She turned back to him and slowly shook her head, and clucked at him like a hen. ""Oh Shining...... I was so sure you would love and appreciate this! But sadly, you do not. And besides, you can't tell somebody if they're already dead."
Shining was more scared than he'd ever been. "W-What!?"
She finished her walk towards one of the other shelves, and Shining's eyes widened in fear as he saw the plaque.
'Shining Armour.'
Shining realized what she was going to do. "N-No! PLEASE!"
Cadance clucked again. "It's already too late Shining..." Her horn light up.
Shining yelled. "N-NO! PLEASE! I-I'M SORRY I'LL-" Silence.
Cadance picked up the crystallized heart in her magic. "Wonder what story I'll make up. Should I go with heart attack, or a pony attacked him?" She dropped the crystallized heart onto the pile and went to unlock the door, passing Shining's body.
She grinned and stopped standing over him. Her form flickered, revealing a black stallion underneath with a blood red horn. "Oh Shining, what a wonderful husband you were." King Sombra grinned.
He flickered back into his Princess Cadance form, and left the room, loving the thought that Shining's body would be rotting in that underground chamber.
Author's Note
Yay! I just ruined the sweetest princess who does no wrong!
