The Fool of Hearts

Chapter Six
Sanctuary

Shining Armor opened his eyes, taking the blinding light. He blinked the tears from his eyes as they formed, and then looked around the room he was in. He was in the hospital, and his wife sat next to him asleep on a cushion next to his bed. Cadence had a few scrapes and bruises, and a nasty black eye, but otherwise looked okay. Shining Armor sighed contentedly that his love was safe from the collapse he heard from within the tunnel. Shining Armor moved to get up but grunted in pain as the wound he sustained in his chest protested the movement.

"Honey, you need your rest..." Cadence mumbled as she rubbed a hoof against her eyes.

"But auntie Arcane..." Shining grunted urgently as he attempted once more to raise himself only to fail and fall back into the bed.

"She has disappeared. Wanted posters have been put up in all the big cities across Equestria, and we have sent out numerous search parties. But no luck so far..." Cadence said with downcast eyes.

Shining closed his eyes and thought over what had transpired in the tunnel. He had made up his mind and he was about to end his aunt's life, his pregnant aunt. Shining felt a pang of guilt, even though he had not managed to harm her, and she had associated herself with such heinous acts, Shining could not believe he almost attacked a pregnant mare.

"Cadence, I almost did something terrible..." Shining sighed in defeat as he opened his eyes and met hers.

"Shining, I know she is your aunt but she has done evil things. Even if she did not personally kill those ponies, she harbored a murderer..." Cadence said in a soothing voice.

"No, Cadence, you don't understand. Auntie is pregnant, and I was going to kill her. That... Thing stopped me, but if he hadn't I would have killed innocent foals. Even if auntie has become evil, they have done nothing wrong..." Shining said solemnly.

"Pregnant? How is that possible, she said she had not met anypony..." Cadence mumbled.

"I'm not sure, she said some god-like figure called Sithis granted her barren womb her children. But she was acting deranged by then, I don't know how much to trust." Shining mumbled.

Shining Armor remained silent for a while, until a thought struck him, "Cadence, how long have I been out..."

"About a week now, you were in bad shape. Your lungs had filled with blood... It took us a little while to find you since the manor exploded. Some kind of explosive rune was put at the front door, and when backup came to help us it went off." Cadence said as she ran a hoof through Shining's mane.

"Have anymore murders happened?" Shining asked with a businesslike tone.

"Three..." Cadence mumbled.

Shining sat up, ignoring the pain as he stared wide eyes at his wife, "Three?!"

"That is not the worst part..." Cadence said as her ears flattened against her head.

Shining Armor did not even want to ask, but the look on his face asked for him. Cadence drew her husband into an embrace and stroked his mane soothingly, in an attempt to calm him down before relaying the information.

"Only one of them has been in Canterlot." Cadence whispered.

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A pony trotted through the streets of Ponyville, a whimsical smile adorning his face. The unicorn stallion had a dark red coat and golden eyes that scanned the townsfolk as he passed by. The unicorn trotted up to a market stall and placed a small sack of bits before nodding towards the neat stack of sweet rolls. The mare in charge of the market stand smiled at the bag of bits and accepted it before placing a bag over the pile of baked goods and giving it to the the red stallion.

The red stallion then eyed another stall and trotted over to purchase some carrots from a mare who had curly hair that was as orange as her carrots. After the stallion had finished this purchase and had his produce and treats in his saddlebag, the stallion trotted down the road and crossed a bridge that went over a small river. The stallion levitated a sweet roll out and munched on it as he walked, humming a tune as he looked for the pony in particular he was seeking.

The stallion trotted up to the cottage that sat atop a hill, the cottage was surrounded by wildlife. The singing of the birds and the playing of the animals made the stallion's eye twitch, but he quickly shook his head and knocked on the front door. A quiet squeak was heard from inside and the stallion wondered if the house was infested with mice. Knocking again and waiting patiently the dark red pony looked around with a bored expression as he hummed.

Slowly the door opened and a cerulean eye looked out between the crack of the door.

"Y-yes? Can I help you?" Fluttershy asked.

"I understand you have some expertise in medical knowledge. There is someone who needs your help, she is feeling unwell and I was hoping you could take a look at her..." The stallion said in a somewhat suspicious tone.

Fluttershy did not like the stallion at first sight, but she could not just chance that he was not telling the truth, "Why can you not get her to the hospital?"

"She is unfit to come to town, she is holed up at home and has been very uncomfortable. I was in town to get food and I heard you have been known to offer assistance." The red stallion said in a hopeful voice.

"Oh um, where do you live?" Fluttershy asked slowly opening the door more as she decided to help the stallion.

"We live just inside of the forest there." The stallion said pointing a hoof towards the Everfree Forest.

Fluttershy made a squeaking noise as she inhaled and her eyes widened at the notion of anypony living inside of the forest. Fluttershy furrowed her brow and began to think the stallion was trying to play a mean trick on her.

"You're not just trying to lure me out there to get me hurt by some wild animal are you?" Fluttershy asked, in an offended tone.

"What? No, never would I play a trick like that when my mother was in such pain!" The stallion returned in an angry tone.

"Oh my, your mother?" Fluttershy asked, once more turning to distress at the notion of a poor old pony alone in the woods and feeling ill.

"Yes will you please come and help? The animals do not come near when I am around." The stallion said with a pleading smile.

"Okay, let me get my first aid bag though..." Fluttershy said as she trotted back inside.

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Fluttershy had been disturbed by the severe lacking of creatures in the Everfree. The stallion had led her a fair way into the forest, not seeming to follow any path at all, but also seeming to know exactly where he was going. The stallion hummed an odd tune as they trotted through the forest, and Fluttershy began to wonder if the tune was what was causing the animals to steer clear, as if it was a warning.

Fluttershy looked once more over the stallion in question, he had an unusually sharp looking horn that suck out from under his odd looking hat. Under the hat Fluttershy could see his slicked back orange hair. Most peculiar though was the cutie mark the stallion had, a black dagger adorned the stallions red flank.

The two came upon a rocky slope and the stallion gracefully leapt from boulder to boulder until he made it to the bottom and looked up at Fluttershy. Fluttershy then flew down and set herself right next to him. Fluttershy was about to ask when they would arrive when a smokey voice spoke from the rocky face of the slope.

"What is life's greatest pleasure?" The voice asked.

Fluttershy jumped and hid behind the stallion who looked back at her with a bemused look before turning his attention towards a ghastly door that had the depiction of some creature's skull with a strange print on the forehead. The rest of the door was adorned with skeletal figures, but the large skull the the glowing print on its forehead seemed to be where the voice came from.

"Death, my brother." The stallion replied.

"Welcome home..." The dark voice trailed off as the door opened.

Fluttershy sat wide eyed at the display and began to scoot away from the stallion.

"Come now, mother is just inside. Please tell me you did not come all this way just to let my mother suffer..." The stallion said in an insulted tone.

"No! no, I will come... Sorry, I'm just a little... Timid." Fluttershy said, keeping her head and eyes low.

The two entered the door, and Fluttershy was greeted with a stairway that led into the ground, and entered into a grand hallway one would expect from a mansion. Fluttershy gaped at the change of view, her eyes popping open at the decadence this hidden shelter had.

"Mother is this way..." The stallion said as he took a right turn and led the yellow mare further into the sanctuary.

"Cicero, are you back?" A mare called from a room down the hallway.

"Yes mother, I have found a pony with medical knowledge as well!" The stallion said excitedly.

Fluttershy could tell she had made the right decision, she hoped she would be able to help the mare, but her voice sounded far too young to be this stallion's mother. As the mare trotted into the room and looked at her patient she gasped. The mare was not that old at all, only old enough to maybe be her own mother. There was no way she was this stallion's mother.

"That cannot be your mother, she is too young!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Well, not my mother by birth. But she is the mother of my lord's offspring, making her the only family I care about." Cicero said as he lit up his horn and levitated the saddle bags off of him and set them gently on the ground.

"Please dear, I am going to be in labor soon... Cicero is loyal, but he is not a doctor. And I cannot make it into town, the birthing will have to be done here. Will you stay to deliver my children?" Arcane Arts asked in a kind voice.

"Well, I couldn't just leave you like this..." Fluttershy said with a timid smile, "Wait, did you say that as in plural?"

"Yes, I am having twins..." Arcane said rubbing her belly with a hoof.

Fluttershy gasped and 'aww'ed' at the notion of twins. The cake twins were so cute together, Fluttershy hoped these twins would prove just as special. Cicero coughed gently behind Fluttershy, causing the mare to jump slightly.

"Mother, may I suggest that I show Fluttershy here where she will be staying until you are due?" Cicero asked.

"Yes, please." Arcane said wearily.

Fluttershy then followed the stallion to an adjacent room that had furnishings that would rival even the Canterlot suite that Rarity had stayed in. Fluttershy looked around amazed the the artwork that hung and then halted as a thought donned on her.

"Where is the father?" Fluttershy asked in a concerned voice.

"The father is... shall we say in a better place..." Cicero said carefully.

Fluttershy gasped and then nodded sadly at the news. It was always sad that something like this happened, Fluttershy was at least happy that this stallion had stayed to help the poor mare, even if he was just a servant of sorts.

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"Okay now, push. I can see the top of the first one's head." Fluttershy said to Arcane as the older mare strained and screamed.

Cicero in his distress had been unable to maintain the alteration spell Arcane had helped him devise. The form of the pony had burst apart and the human now hid outside of the room, distressed by the wails and screams of Arcane Arts. Cicero dug his fingernails into his scalp, drawing blood as he attempted to stop the wailing from entering and assaulting his head.

"Almost there, the first one is almost out." Fluttershy spoke softly over the screams.

After a short amount of time that seemed like days to Cicero the wailing stopped. Cicero did not even register when it had stopped, he suddenly just became aware that his head no longer threatened to pop with the stress of hearing his mother in so much pain. Cicero began to calm himself before once again casting the alteration spell to change his form into that of a pony once more.

Cicero trotted into the room, eyes still red from his experience. The jester pony took in the sight of the two foals, both male, both alicorns. Cicero noticed Fluttershy was also staring with her mouth open at the foals, but Arcane Arts seemed to have expected her children to be such a rare and powerful breed of pony.

Arcane Arts shot Cicero a look, that was immediately understood. The stallion moved behind the yellow mare and put a hoof on her shoulder. Fluttershy jumped slightly at this and slowly turned to face the red stallion.

"It is time to take you back home. You have done a great service to the lord today, and your service will note be forgotten. Should you ever need assistance, just pray for it." Cicero said.

Arcane nodded in satisfaction as Cicero lead the young mare away. As the two left the mother with her newborns, the mother sighed. Fluttershy was well known as one of the elements of harmony, a good friend of her niece Twilight. Hopefully the timid mare did not tell too much of her to her friends. Twilight might not have been told of what transpired at her mansion, but Arcane was willing to bet all of her bits on Shining monitoring Twilight closely.

Arcane looked down to her twins and smiled warmly. She would need to come up with names fitting the future kings of Equestria. Arcane kissed both of her sons on their foreheads before wrapping them up in blankets and laying down to sleep next to them.

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Cicero dropped the timid mare known as Fluttershy off at her home, asking her once more not to talk of what happened in too much detail. Asking that he and his mother be left to their privacy, and that the location of the sanctuary stay a secret. Cicero departed with a headache. He had gone quite some time now behaving as Arcane had instructed, so as to not draw attention. But now he had work to do, Cicero would scope out his targets in the daylight, find where they lived and get to talk to them and learn about them before returning in the night to send them to Sithis.

Cicero enjoyed talking to the ponies before he ended their miserable existences, their belief that they were safe amused the jester to no end. It was as if all the ponies secretly wanted him to kill them, welcoming him inside with unlocked windows. Tonight he had a target here in Ponyville.

Cicero looked around the town until he spotted a mare that matched the description he had been given. As Cicero approached the mare seemed to take not of him.

"Hello, my name is Cicero. I couldn't help but notice you playing your instrument there and I was ever so intrigued, could you play me a tune?" Cicero asked in a merry voice.

"Why of course, I always appreciate when ponies like my instrument!" The mare said as she produced a lyre and began to play a song that Cicero happily sat and listened to as he imagined eviscerating the mare.

Later that night Cicero approached the house the mare lived at in his natural form. The jester took a running start and scaled up the side of the building, catching the bottom of a balcony. Cicero then pulled himself up and over the rail and checked the glass door that lead into the house. It was, like every other door in this entire land, unlocked. Cicero slipped inside and crept through the house.

Cicero checked the first closed door he came across, peering inside he found a mare sleeping in her bed. Cicero crept closer, and posed his dagger over the sleeping mare. Cicero was about to slap the mare across the face so she would be awake to feel the dagger plunge unto her chest, but he noticed she was the wrong pony. This pony had a curly pink a blue mane.

Cicero slowly crept back into the shadows as he exited the room and continued his hunt. Cicero checked the bedroom across the hall from the one he had just visited, and entered as silent as the night. The jester once more checked to make sure he had the right pony, and smiled a toothy grin as he looked down at the minty green mare with a spiked mane that had a white stripe in it.

Cicero decided to have a different kind of fun with this kill, and sheathed his dagger. The jester then gently placed both hands around the mare's neck. Lyra began to awaken at the sensation of being touched, only to be yanked out of bed and slammed against the wall. Lyra tried to scream but found that no air could escape her chest as the hands crushed her throat.

'Hands' Lyra thought in wonder, as she looked down at the appendages she had dreamed of, squeezing the life from her. The mare looked up in wonder at the creature that was in the act of murdering her. Her eyes held not fear, but amazement, and this confused Cicero. The jester tightened his grip, causing the mare's eyes to bulge slightly.

"Strange one you are, not afraid of death..." Cicero mumbled in the ponies face.

Lyra moved her lips to talk, but the gesture was in vain. The life was being siphoned out of her as her throat was crushed under the grip of the man. The creature made a sound, but Lyra could not register it, the edges of her vision were growing darker and darker by the passing second.

Lyra dropped to the floor clutching her throat and gasping in air, a set of piercing yellow eyes stared down at her. The edges of her vision still darkened though, and as the blood once more pumped through her head, the sudden change of pressure caused the mare's vision to completely black out. The last thing Lyra remembered before blacking out were those Yellow eyes, and the wonder they held within them.