The Fool of Hearts

Chapter 4
Dark Revelation

"What is it Luna, you don't look so good." Celestia said as she raised a bite of salad to her mouth and chewed thoughtfully over the look her little sister had.

"I have been following the dreams of the killer for a couple of nights now..." Luna said nervously.

"You found the killer?!" Shining Armor exclaimed from across the dinner table.

"Not exactly. I have found where his dreams are but his mind is too warped to discern where he sleeps." Luna said with a shiver.

"So what kind of pony are we dealing with here?" Celestia asked, her face showing she meant business.

"The dreams are only view-able to me in the first person. I end up sitting in the back of his psyche and watching helplessly as he relives the murders. There is always this laughing, cackling almost as he attacks the ponies. He has had one nightmare recently that was not about a murder. It was the worst of them all." Luna said with a grave tone in her voice.

"What could be worse than watching a killer butcher his victim?" Cadence asked, beginning to look a little green.

"He has a few memories of this place that was filled with complete darkness. Within the darkness there is a large stone sarcophagus with a gruesome visage sitting at the top. The killer sits lovingly in front of the stone coffin and talks to it, offering soothing words as one would a sick parent. Then a shadowy bipedal figure approaches the sarcophagus from behind and attacks, forcing him away. The killer attempts to fight the stranger but is beaten. Then the other figure opens the sarcophagus and takes the body of a strange creature out and walks off into the darkness with it, leaving the killer alone. The dream ends after hours of lying there alone in the darkness, in complete silence." As Luna finished telling of the nightmare, it was easily visible how much the dream had affected her.

Celestia stood up from where she sat and drew her little sister into an embrace. Luna allowed her sister to comfort her as she shivered at the memory of experiencing the dream first hand since she had to view it in the first person perspective.

"I want you to leave the killer's dreams alone. It does not look like anything will come of viewing his madness." Celestia said soothingly to her sister.

Shining and Cadence shared a glance before leaving to give the royal sisters their privacy. As the couple shut the door quietly behind them Shining let out a sigh, before heading for the barracks. Cadence made to follow her husband but Shining turned around and shook his head.

"No, I need to talk to the men I have in charge of this investigation. Luna mentioned it was definitely bipedal and that it laughed like a lunatic. it may not be much to go on but it is a start." Shining said to his wife.

Cadence frowned and gave her husband the puppy dog eyes. The captain of the guard hung his head in defeat before responding to the pleading look.

"Tell you what, I will give them the information, organize a quick patrol through the streets, and once they are out of the castle and on duty. Then I will take some more time off, and come home so we can spend some more time together." Shining said with a defeated smile and baggy eyes.

"Alright honey, but do not take too long." Cadence said in a scolding tone.

The couple hugged and went their separate ways.

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Iron Sword shared a glance with his twin brother Iron Shield. Both earth ponies looked at the four unicorn cadets they were leading on their patrol through the streets. Normally when a unit of one type of pony was sent out, they were lead by the same type of pony. But for reasons unknown to them the twins were leading unicorns. This usually brought problems when giving orders, as different types of ponies excelled in different things. The twins as earth ponies could not give orders for spells to be cast very effectively, since they themselves did not know and were unable to cast the spells themselves.

"Cadets I suspect my brother and I have been assigned to lead you because of the lack of guards we have at the moment." Iron Shield said firmly.

"We will not pretend to know about magic, or your potentials in how to use it on the field. But we want you to know we still expect this to be a smooth operation." Iron Sword said in a nearly identical voice as his brother.

The cadets' only way to differentiate the twins was by their cutie marks. Iron sword had a pair of crossed swords in front of a shield, whereas his brother had a shield in front of a pair of crossed swords. One had to look closely to tell the difference, but it was visible if they looked hard enough.

"Sir, yes sir!" The cadets barked as they levitated their spears and slammed them onto the ground.

The patrol group then made their way down the streets of Canterlot. Many other patrol groups like this had been sent out, but this had been the final one to be decided, leaving them mismatched leaders for the cadets.

For hours the patrol went uneventfully. The streets of Canterlot were deserted at this time of the night. Ponies even had their shutters shut and blinds closed since the murders had become more and more frequent, almost occurring every other night.

"So, commanders... We heard that you two have never been separated from each other for more than a day. Is this true?" One of the unicorn cadets said, a bemused expression on her face.

"That is true, my brother and I have always been together. We can actually almost read each other's minds at this point." Iron Shield said with a hearty laugh.

"Yeah, we haven't ever requested to be posted together, but the higher ups decided never to separate us." Iron Sword said with a smile.

"Why is that?" A different cadet asked with a curious look on his face.

"Well, my brother and I are usually very well at coordinating with one another." Iron Sword said.

"We have yet to be defeated in a two on two match with anypony else." Iron Shield said finishing his brother's sentence.

The cadets then shared impressed glances and reassuring smiles to one another. If they chanced over the murderer then their commanding officers would no doubt easily best him. They were still a little hesitant though, they were told that they were looking for a bipedal male creature that was deranged and completely insane.

"Hold up... Sirs, why is that door ajar?" The female cadet that spoke before asked while pointing a hoof at a bakery.

Iron Shield took a closer look and sure enough the door was ajar, but there were no lights on in the place. The twins did not even have to look at one another, they both rushed over to the door. Iron Shield stood to one side of the door and peered through the crack as his brother drew a sword from his side and held it in his teeth at the ready.

Iron Shield gently opened the door and his brother followed close behind him. The cadets then followed, leaving one at the door, and one outside to watch the windows. The two that followed the twins in the bakery looked around warily. They had been trained not to light the area with their horns, lest they alert a criminal before they get sight of them.

The bakery was eerily quiet, not a single sound other than the hoofsteps from the guards. The officers stuck together, keeping perfect pace with one another as they checked the back room. They reemerged with the same vigilant expression they had going in. Iron Shield stopped dead in his tracks and swiveled his ears on top of his head, listening for something.

A faint chuckle could be heard upstairs. The voice was high pitched and spoke in a sing songy voice, "And I said to the baker, you're not dead you're a faker... But if that's your wish I'll oblige!" The voice cackled at the end.

The guards rushed up the stairs into the second floor of the bakery where the baker most likely actually lived. As they reached the top they heard a scream from a stallion. They followed the sound and burst into a bedroom where the body of the baker lay, soaking the sheets and dyeing them red with his blood. The cadets trotted over to the body and checked the baker's vitals. But it was no use, the baker was already dead.

The twins moved back into the doorway and blocked it, standing side by side making sure nothing could slip past. They could sense that something was inside of the room with them, watching just out of sight and waiting for a chance. The cadets picked up on the look their commanders had and lit their horns to illuminate the room. As the light flooded the room the ponies blinked a few times to adjust their eyes to the light. The cadets looked at the corners of the room, and then turned to the twins and shrugged. Both of their commanders stared wide eyed just past them though.

The cadets slowly turned their heads to look behind them and saw, crouching on the end of the bed right next to them was a strange creature wearing red and black clothing with blood splattered across its face. Before the cadets could even react Cicero had his knife buried in the throat of one guard, and had jumped onto the other guard's back. Cicero grabbed the cadet's head in between his knees, and twisted his lower body, snapping the stallion's neck. Cicero jumped off the guard, kicking the body to the ground before landing silently and yanking the dagger out of the mare's head, allowing her body to crumple to the ground.

Both guards stared in horror as they watched two of their cadets die in mere seconds. But they did not stay frozen, Iron Sword dove forward, swinging his sword in a horizontal arc. Cicero jumped over the blade and landed a boot heel into the ribs of the guard. As Iron Sword stumbled his brother charged the murderer, intending to ram him into the wall. Cicero had other plans however as he at the last moment jumped to the side and stuck out a foot. The guard stumbled and his chin hit the ground as he slid on the floor.

Cicero giggled as he ran out of the bedroom and ducked to the left. The twins picked themselves up off the ground and rushed out the door. Iron Shield went out first and Iron Sword followed. The moment the second twin exited the room however, Cicero dropped from the ceiling and stabbed the guard in the shoulder as he tackled him.

"Sword!" Iron Shield shouted as he bucked Cicero in the chest, sending the jester tumbling head over heel backwards.

"I'm alright, he only got me in the shoulder." Iron Sword said as he stood, favoring his front right leg.

Cicero charged once more at the twins, Iron Sword slashing diagonally and Iron Shield bucking his back legs. Cicero deflected the sword and spun out of the way of the kicks, skillfully evading the attacks as he got in close to the two. Cicero looked like a mad little whirlwind of blades as he spun and slashed at the two brothers, landing hits in several but minor places.

The twins stumbled back away from Cicero and looked warily at each other. Neither of them were in a good condition, both limping from the injuries they had sustained from the jester who for some reason would not stop laughing. The twins wondered briefly how one could be so coordinated while laughing all the time.

Cicero saw Iron Sword drop his guard for all of a second, and leapt at his chance, dagger extended as he lunged. Iron Shield saw this and pushed his brother to the ground, protecting his body with his own. The dagger punched easily through the gold plated armor the guard wore.

"Shield! why..." Iron Sword said as he stared, face to face with his brother.

"Because it is how ma' always used to say. I am... Your shield..." The twin said as he coughed up blood on his brother's face.

"Don't be sad, You will both be together in the void. Sithis will watch over your souls for eternity..." Cicero said to the brothers as he yanked out the dagger, eliciting a scream from Iron Shield.

Cicero rolled Iron Shield off of his brother with a foot as he stared into Iron Sword's hate filled eyes. Cicero halted in his tracks as he heard multiple voices from downstairs. The jester looked at the window at the end of the hallway, and then down to the guard, and finally over to the stairway.

"Don't you dare leave me alive. You killed Shield now finish me too." Iron Sword said following the jester's glances.

Cicero crouched over the guard and patted him on the cheek, "Perhaps another time I will return you to your brother. For now I must make my departure."

"Don't you bucking dare!" Screamed Iron Sword, causing the guards downstairs to run up at the sound.

Cicero grabbed the sword from the ground and threw it at the first guard to reach the top of the stairs, piercing the stallion through the mouth and out the back of his head. Cicero then broke for the window and crossed his arms over his face as he dove through and flipped, landing on the cadet that was left to watch the door. Cicero lowered his arms and looked at the other cadet that was left to watch the windows.

The cadet began gathering magic in his horn, causing it to glow, but the spell was never completed because Cicero slashed the cadet throat before tearing off down the street. A few of the guards who went in as backup that had seen the guards posted outside of the bakery looked out the window and watched Cicero disappear into the night.

The guards then looked back down the hall to where one officer lay dead, and the other identical pony wept openly over the body of his twin.

"He will pay for this Shield... He will bucking pay..." Iron Sword assured his cooling brother.

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Shining Armor hated having to do this. The captain of the guard presented Iron Sword, the only survivor of the fight with the murderer a medal and equestrian flag in honor of his brother dying in the line of duty. Iron Sword was the only surviving relative of his brother, and so instead of going to his parents, the trophies went to him.

"We will find that monster, and he will be avenged." Shining Armor said with a salute.

"Captain, there was some things about the killer I wanted to share with you..." Iron Sword said as he wiped a tear from his eye and sniffed loudly.

"What is it officer?" Shining said, his full attention on the stallion.

"The murderer can seem invisible in the darkness. He stood right in front of us, and we could even see what should have been behind him. But when one of my cadets illuminated the room he was there, crouching on the end of the bed next to my cadets who had just looked past him before." Iron Sword said, his eyes filled with hate at the memory.

Shining Armor hummed to himself in thought, something seeming familiar in his mind.

"Thank you for this information, that will definitely save lives if we know he can be invisible in the darkness. And once again, I'm sorry for your loss." Both guards saluted each other, and then Shining Armor left the hospital room.

Shining knew he was going to be back in a few days to award him with another medal, the next one would be different though. The silver star was for fallen soldiers, but Iron Sword survived an injury sustained in the line of duty, so he would receive the purple horseshoe.

Shining sat in the carriage that was going to take him back to the palace, and he sat in thought. Something about what the wounded officer said struck a chord in Shining Armor. A memory played through the guard captain's mind.

The blur of motion moved down the hall and ducked around the corner, but Shining could see nothing other than the blur. As he chased it around the corner the blur went into a room down the hall. Shining raced after the blur and opened the door, inside sitting in the room looking at him was...

"Auntie..." Shining whispered.