Venting to the Prince of the Crystal Empire wasn’t something Rarity thought she’d ever find herself doing, let alone in his personal quarters. But in a case like this, she had make an exception.
“I just can’t believe that Spike would cheat on me with that… that… hussy!” Rarity screeched out, pacing back and forth.
“Rarity, I understand you’re peeved, but that’s my wife you’re talking about,” Shining said, attempting to remain calm.
“Huh! Your wife? Well, when she was swapping dragon spit with my Spike, she sure as Celestia didn’t look like anypony’s wife!” Rarity’s cheeks were puffed out and aflame as she screamed at him.
Shining deflated a bit at that. “... I guess you’re right. But still, we should focus on trying to fix our relationships. I still love Cadance, and I can only hope that what we saw was a mistake.”
“Shining,” Rarity said, forcing a smile. “Regifting a present by accident is a mistake. Stepping on a pony’s hooves whilst walking in a theater is a mistake. This is treachery!”
Shining scratched the back of his head with a hoof. “No, no, I get that. It’s just… I can’t imagine my life without Cadie. ” He paused for a moment to take in Rarity’s facial expression. She was hurt, more than he’d seen her hurt since he’d known her. “Can you honestly do the same without Spike?”
“Well, of course I can imagine life without that swindling snipe! I… I… I miss him so much!” Rarity’s composure melted and tears burst from her eyes as she collapsed into a pile on Shining’s bed. “I just love him so much! Why would he do this? How could he?”
“That’s what we need to find out, Rarity,” Shining responded, placing a hoof on her shoulder in consolation. “But we can’t do that if we just sit here.”
“How can we possibly do that? Personally, I’d rather not learn more about their lewd actions than I already have.” Rarity pouted. “It’s painful enough as is. The image of him kissing her like that keeps replaying in my mind. Not exactly a road I want to continue travelling down.”
“Rarity, do you honestly think that they could have done anything more than kiss? Aside from today, they’ve been on opposite sides of the country. I highly doubt they’ve found the time or circumstances to be with each other before this.”
“I suppose,” Rarity said. In all fairness, Shining brought up a good point. Up until this point, Spike had been a model partner. Caring, loving, ridiculously loyal and protective. He did anything and everything to make her happy. Of course, that simple fact is what caused this situation to be all the more painful. She wouldn’t have ever suspected Spike of something like this. It was simply impossible to even think about.
“Until we get to the bottom of this, I don’t think we should just abandon our relationships. We need to talk to them and figure all this out.” Shining was doing his best to keep his composure, but that mask was slowly falling away the longer their conversation went on. “Besides, talking about this is making me a little antsy.”
Rarity sighed and flopped back onto the bed. “So, you’re saying we need to sit down and discuss this like responsible adults? Because, honestly, I feel as though I’d rather listen to the part of my brain telling me to ignore it and hope it goes away.”
Shining glared at Rarity. “Rarity…”
“Don’t say it!” She said, holding her hoof up. “I know what we have to do. Besides, I really want to find out what’s going on here as much as you do. I need my Spikey back!”
“Right. Well, I think we both know what we need to do first.”
“Go to the nearest Pony-Mart and buy two tubs of Vanilla Oat ice cream?”
“Well, the nearest Pony-Mart is just down the street, but… how about we start by going to look at the Saphirum?”
“Oh, please no,” Rarity said,. “I for one have had enough of that ghastly room. For something so romantic, it sure has been the scene for some rather heinous actions recently.”
“Don’t you think that makes it kind of, I dunno, important?” Shining prodded.
“I suppose it is a tad suspicious,” Rarity said, glancing at Shining. “I mean, it’s possible that they snuck off there for the sole purpose of being secretive, but if my many encounters with villains have shown in the past, the setting is just as important as the characters.”
“Exactly. So what do you say we get out of this room? I’m starting to feel a bit cramped,” Shining said, jumping down from his bed and making his way towards the door.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Rarity said. “I suppose if I do much more crying and moping my face will be beyond fixation for the day. Accursed tears and such. We can’t have that, now can we?”
She was quick to follow Shining Armor’s lead, and the two made it to their destination in no time at all. “Alright,” he pointed, “the Saphirum is housed within this room. Before we just go barging in, though, I have a thought.”
Rarity turned her head to address him. “A thought? About what, if I may ask?”
“Go into the room, Rarity. By yourself, if you don’t mind.”
“By myself?” she questioned. “What will that solve? Is it even allowed?”
“I’m the Prince of the Crystal Empire, Rarity. I’m pretty sure you can go in there if I say it’s alright,” he replied, rolling his eyes. “Just trust me on this, alright?”
Rarity shook her head and rolled her eyes back. “Alright, Shining, if you so insist, I’ll go check in on it myself.”
Rarity steeled her nerves and pushed the door open, prepared for anything, or so she assumed. The door slammed shut behind her the moment she stepped inside, and she turned back to it. “Um… Shining? Was that you?”
“Shining isn’t here, Rarity.”
“Huh?” Rarity whirled back around, and was stunned to find that both Cadance and Spike were in the room with her. Rarity’s jaw dropped in disbelief as she saw the two of them standing together. It took her a short moment to gain her composure, however, and she dashed forward to approach them. “So! You return to the scene of the crime? I demand an explanation right— huh?”
As she moved closer she noticed something distinctly off about them. “What’s wrong with your eyes…?” Cadance’s face was visible to her, and her eyes currently sported a dark green glow, casting a spooky light on Rarity’s body as she got closer.
“I’m not sure what you mean, Rarity,” Cadance answered, raising up a hoof and looking at it indignantly. “You see, it’s just me. Perhaps you’re simply imagining things.” Cadance punctuated her sentence with a smile.
Rarity took a step back, eyes fixed on the two in front of her. “Something isn’t right, here. Spike! Please, tell me what’s going on here! I demand to know at least that much.”
Spike slowly turned his head to meet Rarity’s eyes with his own. His eyes cast the same green light on her as Cadance’s, yet they were a strikingly pitch black. “You don’t know anything.”
Spike took a step towards her, and she reeled back in fear as his other leg seemed to go limp. Another step, and that leg simply dragged behind him on the floor, giving him the appearance of a lame pony. What in Equestria was going on?!
“And after today, nopony will know about you,” Cadance added, advancing towards her. Rarity’s eyes shot in her direction. The fashionista had gone up against the likes of Nightmare Moon. Discord. Chrysalis. Even Tirek, and yet nothing had frightened her this much. The Princess’s eyes ceased their glowing, and what Rarity saw behind that glowing made her fall down to the floor in a ball.
“Y-you’re not Cadance!” She shouted, not daring to move a hoof and uncover her eyes. “What are you? “S-someone, please help!”
Her breaths came in short, quick wisps as an ear shattering scream pierced her eardrums, echoing madly throughout the room. Then, in the blink of an eye, nothing. Everything was dead silent.
After a few moments of cowering, Rarity slowly shifted her head up and briefly uncovered her eyes. “Is it… Is it over?” She glanced about the room, but nothing was there. Just a dark room. She slowly rose to her hooves and turned around toward the exit. As she made her way to the door, a hoof slowly reached out and touched her on the shoulder, freezing her body in place.
“Shining? Is that—”
A voice came from behind her, whispering directly into her ear. “I am the end to everything you love. Get out of here!”
“Ahhh!” She slammed herself into the door, almost breaking it off of its hinges as it whirled open.
Rarity crashed through the door and flopped to the ground as the door slammed back shut in her wake.
“Rarity? What’s wrong?” Shining yelled as the mare crashed down in front of him.
“No! Make it stop! Ahh!” Rarity jumped towards him, crying hysterically into his chest.
“Rarity,” Shining said, holding her close. “What’s wrong? What did you see?”
Rarity took a slow, deep breath and looked into his eyes. “I don’t know what I saw. But whatever it is… it wants to hurt us.”
“What do you mean? Did you see a vision or something? Maybe I should go take a look…”
“No!” Rarity screamed. “Don’t open that wretched door! Please! Please, let’s just leave for now.”
Shining’s eyes drifted between the door and Rarity. “Alright, we’ll leave it alone for now. Let’s get back to the room. I’ll have them bring us some food or something.”
Rarity nodded and followed Shining down the hall. She took one last glance at the door behind her as they trotted off.
This was going too far. What Rarity had seen on the other side of that door couldn’t have possibly been real. … Right? It certainly felt real, but maybe that was just the room’s latent magic. She knew that she wasn’t even close to the most magically inclined of unicorns, but even she could tell now that something about that room was seriously corrupted. Almost as if…
“That’s it!” She exclaimed, causing Shining to stop in his tracks.
“Um, what’s ‘it’, Rarity?”
Rarity paused for a moment, looking back towards the room, then back to Shining. “Do you remember, Shining, what happened to Twilight when she tried to open King Sombra’s door?”
“She told us that it used dark magic to hypnotize her into seeing her… worst… fears…” He trailed off, following her gaze back to the door. “... You don’t think that’s what’s happening here, do you?”
“No,” she replied, still frowning. “But I dare say that something very similar is happening. We should have Twilight take a look at it! If anyone can figure out what’s going on, she can”
Shining rubbed his chin in thought for a moment. “She does have the book knowledge and experience for these kinds of things. And honestly, whether or not what you saw in there was real, we need to find out what it is. I’ll have someone contact Twilight right away.”
“Thank you, Shining,” Rarity said, before an idea struck her. “Do you think she’d be willing to meet us at the ice cream shop?”