Rejects' Love

Morning arrived in the Crystal Empire and like it was every other morning, it was not the sun that would wake Shining Armor and Cadence up, it was the cries of Flurry Heart. Also like every other morning, Shining immediately got up, rushed into the nursery and got her changed. Cadence always smiled when she saw this and realized how lucky she was to have such a great father as her husband.

Once he got her changed the three headed downstairs for breakfast. On most mornings, Sunburst would have already arrived to join them before he began his daily routine of watching over Flurry. This morning would be different as he was strangely absent. Shining Armor was a bit concerned and asked, "Cadence honey, I wonder where Sunburst is?"

Cadence replied, "I'm not sure, normally he is already here."

As they were having their conversation a guard came rushing into the dining hall. He asked, "Your Majesties, have either of you seen Flash Sentry?"

Shining asked in return, "No, why do you ask?"

The guard replied, "Well when we woke up this morning he was not in the barracks and he has guard duty at 0800."

Shining and Cadence gave one another curious looks and Cadence commented, "That's odd, both of them are absent."

Shining suggested, "I'm thinking after breakfast we should go looking for them." He turned to Cadence and said, "You can go look for Sunburst and I'll go look for Flash."

Cadence nodded and asked, "I don't know what could have caused them to go missing. You don't think Sunburst is hiding in his house because of what Starlight did, do you?"

Shining couldn't help but laugh, "I don't think so." He became more serious and continued, "I talked to him yesterday and while he was sad, he told me that he wouldn't let that stop him from doing his job."

Cadence sighed, "Well you never know, he was devastated over what happened."

Shining replied, "He might have stayed home then." He looked down at his plate and continued, "Well let's eat breakfast and then we'll go looking for them."

After they finished their breakfast they readied themselves to head out but knew that they would have to find somepony to take care of Flurry Heart. At first they were unsure as to have do it until Shining simply decided that Cadence could take her with her. Once they decided on that they headed out.

Shining headed off towards the barracks and was greeted by numerous guards who were voicing their concerns about the absence of their fellow guard. One guard went into detail, "Your Majesty, I'm not sure what happened but I thought I heard somepony leave during the night and then this morning Flash Sentry was gone."

Shining replied, "That's odd. It isn't like him to just get up in the night and leave."

The guard replied, "He seemed really restless last night and I heard him mumbling about something involving a relationship and getting kicked out of the guard."

This brought out a bit of curiosity from Shining. He asked, "What would cause him to say that?"

The guard replied, "I'm not sure but I do remember him talking to your crystaller yesterday afternoon and talking about them going out for supper." The guard then began to laugh, "You don't think......"

Shining himself laughed as well, "Come on now, Flash isn't like that! I know he likes mares and so does Sunburst so it must be something else."

The guard replied, "You're probably right, maybe he simply thought that being friends with the crystaller would land him in hot water."

Shining then began to think about what the guard said about Flash and Sunburst talking about supper. He headed towards the door and suggested, "How about you come with me. I'm thinking that if we go to Sunburst's we can learn what that was all about."

The guard replied, "Yes your Majesty."

As the two headed off towards Sunburst's house Cadence and Flurry were arriving. She could tell that there were no lights on and things just didn't seem right. She knocked on the door and yelled, "Sunburst, are you alright?"

She got no answer so she knocked again and yelled louder. After not getting an answer a couple more times she finally decided to see if his door was unlocked. Much to her delight it was so she headed in but her delight would not last for long. When she saw the bloody corpses of both Flash and Sunburst she shrieked loudly and fainted. She would not be the only distraught one though, Flurry Heart flew down next to Sunburst's corpse and began to cry, wondering what had happened to him.

Five minutes later Shining and the guard arrived at Sunburst's house to discover not only had his wife had fainted and his daughter sitting next to Sunburst crying, but the horrible scene before him. Shining shrieked, "What the hay? What the hay happened here?"

He began to survey the scene and was terrified by what he saw. What truly shocked him though was that Flash Sentry had been cut open and his heart had been removed. After getting his daughter up on his back, he took a closer look at Sunburst. The first thing he noticed was that his hind legs were tangled up in Flash's and after turning him onto his side, he noticed that not only was his face covered in blood, but also there was a knife plunged into his chest.

This was something that Shining never expected to find nor was he prepared to discover something like this. He stood there in a stunned silence for a few minutes before his wife finally came to. Once she got up and saw the bodies again she broke down crying, "Shining, they're dead, they're both dead." Her cries became louder as she asked, "How could something like this happen here? The Empire is supposed to be full of love and light."

Shining replied, "Well neither one of them are crystal ponies but still." He took a closer look and continued, "And I don't know how this happened but it looks like Sunburst cut Flash open and ate his heart."

Cadence shrieked, "What? You really think he could even do that?"

Shining pointed his hoof down and replied, "Look at this. It is obvious that Flash has been cut open....." he took an even closer look at Flash and noticed that some of his flesh had been chewed off. He continued, "Look at this, his flesh wasn't just cut off, it was bit off." He then pointed to Sunburst's face and continued, "And look at Sunburst's face, it is soaked in blood."

The guard, who had been quiet for the most part suggested, "I know you said that Flash was into mares, but I still can't help but wonder WHY these two would talk about going to supper in the first place."

Cadence also suggested, "Well I know Sunburst had his heart broken and maybe he wanted to talk to Flash. Maybe they came over here and something happened."

The guard gasped, "I know somepony left the barracks in the middle of the night and then Flash was gone. You don't think he came over here, got into some sort of argument and this happened do you?"

Shining Armor replied, "You know, I don't know. None of this looks right because if anypony would have wound up being laying on the floor, gutted and had their heart eaten, it would have been Sunburst."

Cadence looked down at Flash further and noticed how he had been stabbed in the gut multiple times. She suggested, "Look at Flash's gut though. Sunburst could have used his magic to stab him multiple times."

Shining replied, "That is true but still, WHY would Flash even be here and what would have led to this altercation?"

Cadence replied, "I'm not really sure. The only thing I can be sure about is that this looks like a murder/suicide."

The guard added, "Well we better notify the proper personnel to get these bodies taken to the morgue. We can't just leave them in here to rot."

Shining replied, "Yeah we do but still, I just don't get it." He threw his hooves up in the air and continued, "Well let's get this taken care of." Something crossed his mind and he wanted to address it, "Guard, after we get this taken care of could you meet us in the throne room? There were some things you said that may not have been so strange after all."

The guard replied, "Yes your Majesty."

As they headed off to get the bodies taken care of before heading off to the castle, Cadence still couldn't help but wonder why this happened but Shining began to wonder if perhaps both Flash and Sunburst hadn't been hiding a huge secret and what happened was a result of the secret maybe being revealed.