“Shining Armor, do you take Princess Cadence to be your loving mare, forever and always?”
Shining Armor hesitated with his answer. When he finally spoke, he answered nervously.
“I…do not”
The entire wedding hall erupted with gasps, tears, and protests. This was a royal wedding, in Canterlot Palace! Refusing or being out of form was unacceptable. Nopony said no or stuttered or anything like that.
Celestia glared at Shining Armor angrily. “And what are your reasons for this refusal?”
Shining Armor was sweating profusely. He backed away and stammered through his answer.
“I…I…”
At this point Celestia’s stare burned through Shining Armor’s skull like a laser. He immediately ran toward the back of the sanctuary, through the guards, and out of town.
* * *
Cadence was in tears, crying ceaselessly over the rejection of her fiancé. After the ‘dilemma’ at the wedding, she had been whisked away to her quarters to recuperate. She was not doing well though. Some guards had been sent to comfort her, but she quickly commanded them, “Out!” How could he do this to me? Cadence thought. I’m the prettiest, wealthiest princess in all of Equestria! Nopony refuses me! Especially not a peasant like Shining Armor!
She quickly got up, pulled herself together, and headed for the throne room to speak to Princess Celestia.
“Your Highness,” Cadence bowed in her presence.
“Speak, Princess Cadence,” Celestia commanded. “What do you have that requires my attention?”
“I want him dead,” Cadence said calmly.
“Shining Armor?” Celestia questioned.
“Yes.”
“Well then,” Celestia considered for a moment. “Very well. We will hunt him down at once.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Cadence bowed and trotted back to her quarters with a grin on her face. This was going to work out after all, she thought.
* * *
Shining Armor stopped running and tried to catch his breath. What did I just do? , he thought. The entire palace guard is going to try and hunt me down!
He knew there was only one place where he would be truly safe. Harmony, he thought. With an affectionate sigh he cantered off in the direction of Ponyville, towards Harmony’s house.
The forced marriage between him and Princess Cadence was not something he was at all in favor of. Ever since he had met Harmony, an earth pony who lived in the farmlands of the outskirts of Ponyville, he had fallen madly in love with her and vowed to never marry another, even the wealthiest, prettiest princess in all of Equestria. Oh Harmony, we will soon be together. He smiled at the thought.
Later, Harmony’s home came into view. Shining Armor gave a sigh of relief. Finally, he thought. Fortunately, on the short trip to Harmony’s, Shining Armor didn’t meet any guards, and anypony who he passed barely took notice of him. It was not unusual for strange ponies to pass through Ponyville.
Harmony happened to step outside at that moment, and she did a double take when she saw Shining Armor trotting toward her. She immediately dropped the bucket of seeds she was carrying.
“Shining Armor, “she whispered to herself. Her eyes lit up as she realized that her lover had escaped the arranged marriage after all. She began to run towards Shining Armor and they met in a loving embrace.
“You made it!” Harmony said into his ear.
“Only for you, my love,” Shining Armor said and held Harmony tighter.
The two walked back to Harmony’s house. Shining Armor began to feel something he had never felt before. Freedom, he thought. I’m finally free.
* * *
Back at Canterlot Palace, Cadence was preparing herself. She was-with no doubt-going to kill him. That bastard, she thought, refusing me? He couldn’t do better if he had a choice. But Cadence knew that Shining Armor would be a hard one to pin down. He had a lot of friends and relatives scattered all throughout Equestria that would shelter and hide him without a second thought. But I have the entire Canterlot Royal Guard, she realized, some of the best trained guard-soldiers in all of Equestria. We’ll find him… She laughed to herself as she thought of Shining Armor’s fate. He’ll be like putty in my hooves…
* * *
After their dramatic meet-up, Shining Armor finally explained the entire ordeal to Harmony.
“I need to hide. The palace guards could be here as soon as tomorrow!” Shining Armor urged Harmony. “Do you have a place I could hide?”
Harmony thought for a second.
“Of course! The crop cellar! It’s full of barrels and boxes for storage, so there should be no problem hiding you in there.”
After scouring the crop cellar for the best place to hide, Harmony found a very large, empty box that Shining Armor could easily stay in. They both nudged the box into a corner and Shining Armor stepped in.
“Perfect,” he said with a smile.
“Good.” Harmony said. “I’d better get some sleep. Good night and good luck.”
“I can’t thank you enough, love.” Shining Armor said to her. They kissed goodnight and Shining Armor went to sleep. Harmony closed the box and went to bed.
* * *
Morning finally rolled around. It was a dark, gloomy day. Preparations for the scouting party were coming to a close.
“My scouts are almost ready.”Darkblood, captain of the guard, told Celestia.
“Very good. Get them moving as soon as you can.” Celestia said as she walked back into the palace.
“Of course, Your Highness.” Darkblood bowed and walked back to ready his troops. He had chosen his fastest and strongest stallions for this special task. Darkblood chuckled to himself and grinned. Shining Armor can run but he can’t hide for long. Not against me. That thought gave him hope and a burning desire to kill Shining Armor. Darkblood was Cadence’s big brother, and would do anything to see her satisfied. In this case, that would mean killing her ex-fiancé. He smiled at the thought.
* * *
Shining Armor awoke to find himself being vigorously shaken by Harmony.
“Wha…What’s going on?” Shining Armor said sleepily.
“You have to get moving now!” Harmony said sternly. “The Royal Guard is searching every house between here and Canterlot. You need to get out of here!”
“Where can I go? I’ll never be able to outrun them.” Shining Armor questioned, now fully awake.
“I’ve already got the supplies you’ll need to survive and I’ve already made a route for you.” Harmony showed Shining Armor a map of Equestria. “You’ll head north.”
Shining Armor’s eyes grew wide in shock. “That will take me to the Everfree Forest! I can’t survive in there!”
“You’ll have to. It’s the only place the palace scouts won’t search.” Harmony reasoned. “I’m sorry.”
Shining Armor’s head swam. This could be the last time that I ever see Harmony! I can’t let that happen.
“Harmony?”
She turned around to face him. “Yes?”
Shining Armor took a breath. “You’re coming with me.”
Harmony just stared with her mouth open. “Someone has to stay here, and it’s not going to be you.”
Shining Armor thought for a second, and said: “I know that your farm is dear to you, but I can’t live out there.” He gestured northward. “Together we can survive. Our love will keep us alive.”
Harmony just sighed. “Fine.” She said sarcastically. “Get over here. We have to pack.”
Shining Armor just walked up to her, turned her head towards him, and passionately kissed her.
Harmony just stood with her eyes wide.
* * *
“Come on! Let’s go!” Darkblood was yelling at his scouts. “If we want to find him, we need to move!”
Ever since they had started searching, they had found nothing but clueless pony after clueless pony. Nopony even knew who Shining Armor was! This search is going nowhere! Darkblood thought with a sigh as he cantered off to the next house. It seemed that the most common answer was ‘Who?’ or ‘Shining Armor? Who would name their colt that?’ These ponies really need to get out more. Darkblood thought.
* * *
It felt like they had been trotting in circles all day. Shining Armor and Harmony had been walking through the Everfree Forest constantly since sunrise in an attempt to escape the guards. Every tree looked the same, so there was no telling how far they’d been or which way they were going. In this situation, ‘lost’ was an understatement. In fact, they had no intentions of ever going back, so they didn’t care where they were, as long as they were as far away from Ponyville as possible.
“You have any idea where we are?” Shining Armor asked, with a nervous edge to his voice.
“I’ve been in these woods before, but never this deep,” Harmony said, glancing around for a landmark or a recognizable object. “I’ve no idea.”
There was nothing to do but keep going, until night had engulfed the Everfree forest and neither Shining Armor nor Harmony could see their own four hooves. Then, and only then did they rest for the night. Little did they know, they were in for a surprise in the morning.
* * *
Darkblood was extremely frustrated.
He had been searching all day long in this little town and had found nothing. Not even a trace of Shining Armor! He was ready to give up.
“Hey, what about that one?” One of his scouts pointed to a farmhouse on the edge of Ponyville.
“That’s the only one left. We’ll have to search it.” Darkblood said with hope.
As his scouts approached the farmhouse, they noticed that it had been uninhabited for a few days. The door had been left open, and items were strewn everywhere inside. But what was the most surprising was what was found outside the house.
“Darkblood, sir, come take a look at these.” One of his scouts beckoned for him.
“What is it?” Darkblood questioned when he arrived.
“Tracks, sir. Pony tracks. Two sets.”
He was right. Shining Armor’s large hooves were easily distinguishable in the soft mud of Harmony’s abandoned fields.
“Scouts! Follow these tracks, into the woods!” Darkblood ordered his troops.
The tracks led into the thick Everfree Forest, one of the most hostile places in Equestria. Darkblood shuddered as he remembered the last time a scouting went in there. Not this time, he thought. Not my soldiers.
Fortunately, even though it was getting dark, the scouts moved along. Darkblood, prepared for anything as usual, had brought torches for this exact reason. Unbeknownst to him, Shining Armor and Harmony were not prepared, so they were forced to rest for the night. Darkblood had gained the upper hand. He chuckled to himself as he began to canter along the path.
* * *
“This is the Canterlot Royal Guard! Do not move!” Darkblood shouted to Shining Armor as he held a pike to his chest.
Shining Armor awoke with a start. He looked at Harmony, who was in the same situation. The look in her eyes seemed to say: We’ll find a way out of this.
“You are both under arrest. Shining Armor, you are under arrest for abandoning a royal arranged marriage, and for evading guards who have a warrant to arrest you. Your friend there”-he poked Harmony with his pike-“Is under arrest for protecting and housing a runaway, as well as evading guards with an arrest and search warrant.”
Shining Armor bowed his head in defeat. He, in bringing Harmony into the woods with him, had gotten her-as well as himself-captured by the royal guard. He sighed and gave in to Darkblood.
“Now,” Darkblood said, “Since we have orders not to kill you on sight, you and your friend-“
“Harmony,” Shining Armor interrupted.
Darkblood glared at him and gave him another jab with his pike. “You and Harmony will follow us back to Canterlot Palace. We will blindfold you until we get you to your prison cell.” Darkblood pulled out two pieces of cloth and gave them to his scouts to blindfold Shining Armor and Harmony. They were promptly blindfolded and began to follow Darkblood back to the palace.
* * *
“Princess Celestia, the messenger is here to see you.” Celestia’s advisor informed her.
“Bring him in.” Celestia replied from her throne.
“Right away, Your Highness.” He bowed and left to fetch the messenger.
After a minute or so, the messenger walked in and bowed before Celestia.
“I have news from Darkblood’s scouts, Your Highness.” He reported.
“Well, speak! What is it?” Celestia replied.
“Darkblood and his scouts have captured Shining Armor and what appears to be an accomplice of his. ‘Harmony’ is her name.”
“Very good. Tell Darkblood, when he gets here, that I want Princess Cadence to be the first one he sees when he is unblindfolded.
“Yes Your Highness, right away.” The messenger bowed and walked out of the room.
* * *
Shining Armor had been following Darkblood for quite a long time. He had no idea how close they were to Canterlot, or to anywhere else, for that matter. He was partially relieved when he heard the doors of the palace open. He began to wonder what the strange echo he heard was. It suddenly occurred to him. I’m in a stone hallway, so we must be in the castle dungeons.
After a bit more walking, and a couple of flights of stairs, he heard the opening of a rusty cell door. He was pushed inside and he heard Harmony emit a small yelp as she fell onto the floor of the cell. He also heard an unfamiliar mare’s voice say: ‘Very good. I’ll take it from here.’
Shining Armor heard the guards leave, and the unknown mare walked to his cell and locked the door shut.
“You can take your blindfolds off now.” She told Shining Armor and Harmony.
Shining Armor was totally unprepared for what he saw. Princess Cadence, his ex-fiancé, was standing right in front of his cell. Shining Armor was speechless.
“Welcome back, Shining Armor. Hope you had a nice trip. I see you found a new friend.”
Harmony just hung her head and tried not to cry.
“I have plans for you. Both of you.” Cadence said with a smile. “Have a nice night.”
Cadence put out the torches on the walls.
Harmony yelled from her cell at Cadence. “You’ll never get away with this, whatever you’re going to do! Someone will save us!”
Cadence just laughed. “Oh, but the best part is that I will get away with this. Nopony will ever save you. And don’t even try to escape. I can guarantee that the cells are impenetrable, and that half of the guard will not hesitate to kill you if you manage to set one hoof out the door. Sleep tight!” Cadence left with an evil laugh.
Shining Armor had nothing to do but sleep. He thought to himself: What have I gotten myself into?
A Canterlot Disaster: Part 2
Shining Armor awoke to a very loud noise.
After he regained consciousness, he noticed that his cell door had been thrown open and one of the prison guard-ponies was walking into his cell with what appeared to be two sets of four-place hoofshackles. Shining Armor and Harmony were quickly shackled and taken out of their cell. What they saw next totally took them by surprise.
As they were led out of their cell, they were greeted by the sight of dozens of field-working slave-ponies being led through the prison halls in front of them. All of the slave-ponies looked pretty much the same. Most of them had an extremely ragged appearance, as if they hadn't seen a shower or bath in months, possibly years. The ponies in front of them were sorting themselves into various groups.
“Where do we go?” Shining Armor whispered to Harmony, who obviously had no idea.
“I have no clue,” Harmony replied.
After wandering the room aimlessly for a minute or so (and tripping a few times due to the hoofshackles) Shining Armor and Harmony were seized by separate guard-ponies and shoved towards a group of not-so-ragged ponies that obviously hadn't been imprisoned for long.
“Newbies go in this group. Stay with them.” the guardpony practically growled at Shining Armor and Harmony.
Shining Armor got some very strange and quizzical looks as he joined the group of slave-ponies. News had spread quick about the escaped groom-to-be from Canterlot, along with his not-too-successful encounter with the Royal Canterlot Guard. Nopony knew who Harmony was, but frankly, they didn't really care.
Shining Armor, deep in thought, suddenly found himself being pushed into a line with the other newcomers. He heard a couple of loud clangs as he was chained into a line with the other ponies.
“Here we go,” Shining Armor said to nopony in particular.
“No talking!” One of the guard-ponies snapped at him.
Humph! If they only respected my royal past! Shining Armor thought.
At this point the other groups had already left the chamber. One of the guard-ponies walked to the front of the chamber and began to speak to the group of newbies.
“Welcome new slave-ponies...”
That's all that Shining Armor heard. He couldn't even pay attention to what the guardpony was saying. He had already begun to form a plan. They can't keep me in here forever, he thought.
The new slave-ponies, including Shining Armor and Harmony, were assigned to one of the hardest tasks that slaves did at the palace: Tree harvesting. This job wasn't easy, but it played right by Shining Armor's plan. Perfect.
* * *
The slave work for the next few days wasn't very hard, mostly just tedious and rough. The hardest part for Shining Armor, being of a royal background, was learning how to use basic farm equipment such as axes and wheelbarrows. Harmony already was extremely proficient at doing those sorts of things because she had to run her farm at home, so farming was an everyday exercise for her. When she could get away with talking on the job, she would constantly tease Shining Armor about the fact that he was horrible with farm equipment and tools.
But among all of the teasing and joking that the ponies did, they were both trying to come up with a way out. Escape via anywhere near the castle was definitely out of the question. Guard posts ever since the infamous escape at the royal wedding had been increased twofold. New sentry positions had been established around the castle walls and the city of Canterlot now had regular guard patrols in the streets. So escape by those routes couldn't be done. There must be a way out, Shining Armor thought. Prison breaks had been done before...
* * *
Shining Armor groggily opened his eyes, but just couldn't find the motivation to get out of bed.
With much fatigue, he fell back asleep. As a slave, sleep was scarce.
He quickly figured out that every morning it was the guards' favorite task to make the waking of the slaves as miserable and forceful as ponily possible. Their favorite method was to shake the doors of all of the cells at once. This caused all of the ponies to suddenly jump out of their beds at once, and most would fall to their metal cell's floor, causing great pain. This morning the guards did just that.
“Ah!”
Shining Armor practically jumped out of his bed at the loud crashing of the metal-on-metal clang that filled the prison chamber with an unbearable torrent of noise.
As predicted by the guards, he fell right to the floor of his cell.
This is how most of the days began. And the rest of the day wasn't too great either. His schedule was devastatingly boring and empty. Every day looked a lot like the last. Wake up. Eat. Work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat. Forever. Two meals a day, everyday, except for Saturdays. But regardless, the life as a slave was a fate worse than death. The only thing driving Shining Armor on was that he would escape Canterlot palace; he would escape the clutches of Cadence -his ex-fiance and Princess of the esteemed Crystal Kingdom- and he would return to his true love, Harmony. This was his driving force. Nothing could tear him from his dream. Oh Celestia, I hope I'm right,
* * *
One day while stacking logs, it finally occurred to Shining Armor.
He had finally come up with his plan to escape this living hell.
Being from Canterlot and having an exceptional knowledge of the landscape around him, he remembered that a stream -the Neighal River- ran not even half a mile from where the slave-ponies were working. The river was fast-moving, and ran conveniently down and away from the majority of Canterlot. The guard-ponies practically ignored the river. It was only patrolled by one guard, who -after further investigation- looked like he was sleeping on the job. It was the perfect escape route.
During their second meal that day, Shining Armor did his best to explain his plan to the rest of the slaves in his group, and he had spread the word to other slave groups while working that very same day. One particularly bright mind in his group came up with the idea of building rafts to float down the river with. It sounded like the best idea, so Shining Armor went along with it. The hardest part would be storing pieces of wood to form the rafts. The guard-ponies in charge of the slaves would certainly know if any of the wood was missing. Shining Armor didn't know how they did it, but they just seemed to have a sixth sense. Shining Armor made it his job to figure out the solution to that problem.
* * *
As the days went on, Shining Armor noticed he hadn't been seeing Harmony enter the slave sleeping quarters every night. He later found out that she had been transferred to a completely separate section of the slave's quarters due to an act of rebellion; she had tried to escape while working by running toward the outskirts of Canterlot, but was tranquilized before she had run even 100 yards. She now resided in a solitary confinement cell. Twelve inch thick steel walls, reinforced steel door, and absolutely no light could enter the cell when the door was closed. Her cell was patrolled 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by two guards. The Palace does not negotiate with rebellions. Regardless, Shining Armor went along with producing the final idea for his escape.
* * *
“Hey,” Shining Armor whispered to the prisoner across the hall from him.
Every night the Palace changed out the guard rotations once. This process forced the current guard to leave the prison hall for approximately 30 seconds. During this time, Shining Armor would communicate brief pieces of his plan to the other slave-ponies. Last night, he had told the last pony the last of the plan, so everypony in the prison hall knew. Tonight, he was giving the orders for the plan to commence the next day.
“Tomorrow we begin collecting. Everypony ready?” Shining Armor whispered to the dozen or so other ponies in the chamber.
A dozen heads nodded in his direction.
“Good, get some sleep. We'll need it. And another thing-”
Shining Armor dashed back to his cot as he heard the new guard reporting to his guard post. Everypony else did the same. They all had a hard day ahead of them. Shining Armor smiled to himself in his sleep. We're going to do this. We'll all be free from this hell...
* * *
The plan was fairly simple: everyday, a very small amount of wood would be saved out of what all of the slave-ponies harvested during the day. The one big problem with this plan was that the slave-ponies were fed a certain amount based on the amount of wood they collected. Even a small amount of missing wood would constitute an extreme loss of food for the slave-ponies. Shining Armor thought of this and tried his best to convince the ponies that it wouldn't take long for the plan to all work out. At the risk of starving to death, all of the slave-ponies decided to go through with the escape plan.
The following day, the slave-ponies started to smuggle wood down to the riverbank to build rafts. They could only take wood down to the river when the guard-ponies rotated stations, which happened once a day during lunch. Therefore everyday, somepony had to go without lunch just to continue with the plan. This ended up being a different pony every day. Their main job was to lug a small amount of wood down to the riverbank, as well as (every few days) sneak behind the guard-ponies' supply shack and steal a bit of rope. This would be used later to lash the raft together. Only the smallest and stealthiest ponies were picked to steal rope, for obvious reasons. The goal was to build two rafts because of the sheer size of the group. But one member still remained uninformed of the slave-ponies' plan: Harmony, who still was held up in solitary confinement. The question forever lingered in Shining Armor's mind: How do we get her out of here? The problem with Harmony learning the slave-ponies' plan was that she had no contact with the slave-ponies whatsoever. The only way that the slave-ponies could free her was if they managed to get her cell unguarded, and had enough time to find a key and open the lock. How hard could it be? Shining Armor thought to himself sarcastically.
* * *
The day had finally come. After the longest month of Shining Armor's life, the day had finally come.
During lunch the previous day, the last slave-pony brought the last bundle of needed wood down to the riverbank. As the slave-ponies lay awake in their cells that morning, Shining Armor asked the wood carrier from the day before.
“How much wood do we have at the riverbank?” Shining Armor whispered across the chamber.
“Enough. I've already lashed the rafts together. They're ready to go.”
Shining Armor could barely contain himself.
“Perfect.” he whispered.
It was time to go over the next phase of the plan. The next part of the plan was to find a way to get Harmony out of her cell. This would not be easy, considering the amount of precautions that had been put in place to keep her in. There was only one possibility as far as Shining Armor was concerned: Cause such a ruckus running away from Canterlot that all of the guards would become preoccupied with the slave-ponies and not notice that he had been inside the castle the entire time. He would find a key, release Harmony, and bring her with him to the rafts. Therefore, all of the slave-ponies would leave via the river, and he and Harmony would be back together after a long separation -again. Tomorrow, thought Shining Armor. Tomorrow I escape from Canterlot -again.
* * *
During lunch that day. That's when everything would fall into place. Everypony knew what their role was, when to do it, and how to do it.
Shining Armor currently was the only one left in his cell. That morning when the guards led the slave-ponies out of their cells, Shining Armor had followed them, but as they left the chamber, he had quietly slipped out of line and returned to his cell, where he knew he would not be spotted. All he could do from then on was wait for the guards to sound the alarm when the escape began. The waiting was dreadful. Hours passed. He feared that the slaves had abandoned the plan.
But then he heard the tell-tale sound.
The one he had been waiting for. One long blast from the kingdom's warning horn. Followed by another.
Shining Armor's heart raced. Escape time!
He carefully left his cell and started walking toward the area where he knew that the guards had been keeping Harmony. He had studied this walk many times, and knew that he would have a clear path to the cell. He found the cell, but was faced with one of the biggest padlocks he had ever seen. He dumbly looked around for a key, and found that the guards just left it hanging right next to the cell. Well that's a bad idea, Shining Armor thought. He grabbed the key and opened the lock to find Harmony sleeping on the floor. He walked up and shook her firmly.
“Don't hurt me!” Harmony screamed, expecting another visit from the guard-ponies.
“Shh! Don't let the guards hear you!” Shining Armor whispered to Harmony. “We need to leave now!”
Upon realizing it was Shining Armor, Harmony relaxed.
“What's going on?” Harmony questioned, bewildered.
“No time to explain. Just follow me. Quietly.”
Shining Armor practically dragged Harmony out of the cell and into the halls of the castle. All of the guards must be outside, Shining Armor thought. The empty halls made it easy for the two of them to make it to one of the doors leading outside.
Shining Armor stopped Harmony in front of the door.
“As soon as I open this door, I want you to run right behind me. Don't slow down. Okay?”
“Okay. I still want an explanation later, though.”
“Everything will make sense once you start running. Ready?”
Harmony nodded back at him.
Shining Armor threw open the door and instantly started to run toward the river. Harmony was right behind him. What they saw next totally took them by surprise.
Guard-ponies were every where, but they were too focused on the other escaping slave-ponies that they didn't pay enough attention to Shining Armor and Harmony until it was too late. The run from the door to the rafts was just too short for the guards to catch them. The other slave-ponies had already pushed the rafts into the water
“Hey,” one of the slave-ponies screamed “it's Shining Armor! And his friend too!”
“Run!”
They all started yelling at him as the raft was beginning to float downriver. Shining Armor was running as fast as his legs could take him. He was almost at the raft. He looked back and his worst nightmare was coming true in front of his very eyes.
Harmony had stumbled and broken an ankle when she fell.
The guard-ponies were on her instantly.
They had no mercy. They ran up and drove a pike.
Straight through her heart.
She was dead instantly.
“No!” Shining Armor spun around and tried to run back to save her, but he was restrained by one of the slave-ponies.
“If you want to stay alive, you'll stay with us. Come on!”
The slave-pony practically threw Shining Armor onto the raft and pushed the raft away from the riverbank. Shining Armor was being pinned to the raft by three other ponies. There was no going back.
Shining Armor instantly broke down. Why? Why couldn't it have been me? He knew that he couldn't save her, and yet he felt as if it was his fault. In reality, it was his fault for her being dragged into this whole mess in the first place. If Harmony had never followed him into the Everfree Forest, she would still be back at her farm in Ponyville, and he would still have a chance to see her again. But not anymore. Shining Armor felt as destroyed as Harmony's mutilated heart. He felt guilty for matters that he could not even control. If only she would be able to relish in the victory of escape as I will.
Shining Armor just cried silently on the raft. Why did it have to be her? Let it be any of the slave-ponies, or even me! Hell, you could kill Princess Celestia! I'll get back at that bitch Cadence. Just wait. Shining Armor will be back...
With new motivation, Shining Armor got up and recollected himself. He would be back in Canterlot soon. With some new friends. Shining Armor grinned to himself. I'll be back alright. Back to get revenge.
