A Heart with Heart

by BlackWater

3 - What We Want

Gleaming Shield thought what she wanted was what every mare wanted - or would at least take if freely given. A perfect marriage wasn't too much to ask for, right? It would be such a simple matter for two ponies in such a high position. Apparently, that was not the case. Ever since they had arrived on the sun-forsaken rock, everything had been unusual. And that was not to say that it was unusual in the good sense. Gleaming had always enjoyed a little spice in her life to make the often boring guard work more bearable. However, the bleak desolate world that she was currently in was nowhere near the kind of spice that she liked.

Perhaps she had failed to do something. The expectation dropped upon her shoulders like a stone yoke once again. Desperately she tried to shift it off of herself. She had done nothing wrong. Mistakes happened and she wasn't going to reiterate the same arguments in her head. It was a waste of time, especially since one couldn't change the past. The question now was what she was going to do.

The cage was obviously a death trap and she suspected as much. But there wasn't anything else in the room and she hadn't seen an other passages or doors. Perhaps the tunnel entrances that she had seen top-side were all separate from each other. It would make them easier to keep track of but it would be a chore all the same to explore each one. She hadn't counted them so there was no telling how many times she'd have to go through the foreboding tunnels.

Perhaps Tempo was having better luck.

· · · · ·

In fact, Prince Tempo was having even worse luck. It would have been at least worth a molecule of amusement if he had found a machine or cage as had his wife. In his case, however, all he encountered was the end of the magical barrier that sustained the space rock. The dome that covered the inhabitable portion of the torture world curved down to the rock's surface and was as tough as steel even though it was as transparent as glass. It was fine all the same since Tempo had no desire to puncture it.

Still, it was frustrating to have such a lack of progress. Thinking of such matters, the stallion looked back to the sun that was just on the edge of the distant world - the world that probably but not certainly contained Equestria. His brother-in-law probably knew more about the sun and stars as well as their movement, but Tempo didn't have the benefit of asking the purple unicorn.

Wait...it wasn't the stars that moved. It was the planet, right?

Tempo laughed mentally to himself. It was the only amusing thought that the wasteland had given him thus far. It was encouraging to know that he shared things in common with Gleaming Shield. She was his spouse after all and he would be in an awkward spot if they couldn't relate to each other. Only, Tempo was perhaps less interested in those science lessons than Gleaming was. He never saw how they would be of any use anyways, since he would never actually be in a situation where such knowledge was important.

Doodle in haste, regret in leisure. At least Dusk Shine had enjoyed seeing his doodle art when he had to foalsit. The young colt had especially enjoyed his doodles of Gleaming Shield for some reason. He doodled her a lot...

It was then, after getting lost in so much thought, that Tempo finally realized that he had landed and taken a seat on the smooth rock to watch the eclipsing sun. Had he subconsciously given up on his explorations? No. It was that there was something wrong about that sun and that made him realize an earlier thought that had gotten trampled beneath his reminiscing.

The sun hadn't moved. Or rather, the planet hadn't moved. It was still there in the same spot it had been when they had arrived. That was disturbing and it made Tempo worried. Now, there were all sorts of theories that somepony could bring up regarding planetary movement and the position of objects relative thereof. However, Tempo was again not very attentive in his days at science class. Such theories would make Dusk Shine write entire volumes, but they eluded the alicorn stallion. Instead, Tempo arrived at his own dark conclusion and enacted a simple - if rarely used - spell that confirmed his suspicion.

His horn lit with magical energy and an hourglass rose from the smooth rock floor. He used the rock to construct the hourglass by magical means as he infused it with special grains of magical energy. It took quite a bit of effort to make since the magical grains were designed to move only with an absolute measurement of time - the movement of certain celestial bodies. It would normally be beyond his specialty to make but it had proved the most interesting - not to mention easiest - of the science projects that his science tutor had provided.

Tempo smiled as soon as the construct was finished. The fact that he remembered how to make it was all the proof he needed that he wasn't an airhead with education. Forget that nopony was around to appreciate it or that there wasn't a single pony to challenge his intellect in the first place. It was just a personal reassurance. After all, everypony has doubts about themselves every now and then, right?

Tempos' smile didn't last any longer, though. The magical grains weren't moving even though they were properly placed in the upper portion of the hourglass. Perhaps he had done it wrong after all. Ego destroyed, he lit his horn with magic once again and checked the construction. Finding everything in order, he decided that the error was beyond his current position to detect and therefore scrapped the hourglass in lieu of making a new one.

Completing the mechanism once again, his frown deepened. It still wasn't working and that meant only one of two things. Either he really had forgotten how to properly make it or...his original worry had merit. Not wanting to think of the implications of the latter, he decided the truth was the former. He would have to put aside possible intrigue and do something else if he was going to figure out how to get back to the Crystal Empire.

Tempo unfolded his wings and with a powerful and completely non-dust-inducing takeoff - for there was no dust to speak of on the rock - he made his way back to the path that he had left earlier. In a strangely vague sense of time, he came once again into view of the rows of torture devices. He passed what looked like a curved rack and something else that consisted mostly of spiked panels. The gears and levers didn't looked rusted at all so it was likely that they could still work.

Tired of having them sitting around looking evil, he decided it was best to simply land and take care of them. It would take some time and effort since there had to be at least two dozen of them but it was thought-intensive enough to keep his mind off other matters, such as panic or frustration at his current predicament. Besides, maybe some material transformation would spark an idea. He had occasionally gotten a stroke of brilliance through such unexpected things as the act of foalsitting. Dusk Shine had always been bright but he sometimes stumbled across things by shear accident or even paranoia rather than real intent. Tempo supposed it was true to some degree for all ponies.

His horn lit once again with magical energy as the first torture device (the rack) was illuminated within a pink glow.

BAM!

The rack was now a simple, but decently large, potted plant. Tempo grinned. The rock world could certainly use a plant to spruce it up - even a gnarled cactus would give the bleak place more cheer. But his grin died as he realized what Gleaming Shield would think of his work. She would probably berate him for using his magic for decor during a survival crisis.

He looked from the plant and then back to the sun as it tried to hide behind the large bluish orb of a planet. Something stirred in him. A feeling. It had to do with his life, love, and situation - even though he only acknowledged the last of those three things as being the issue at heart. Mentally, he decided not to trust his earlier experiment. Mentally, he decided to chock it up to lost ability. In his heart, he knew better.

Tempo was an alicorn and, regardless of what others and even what he himself thought, he was powerful in the ways of unicorn magic. His wife may be capable of raising an energy barrier around an entire city but he could do even more. He could raise, over the same radius, a barrier of love. It may sound less secure than physical force but such a thing was far more difficult and also far more effective. Even a legion of dragons could not penetrate a shield of emotion because it would not fail to any strength save that of character itself.

Tempo hadn't failed any class that he took and he never failed to remember what others taught him. He was a prince and, even if he had the privilege of being a goof around his wife, he would always live up to the position's responsibility. He knew what the still magical grains had signaled. The world that he and Gleaming Shield had been temporarily confined to was under a powerful and very experimental magic. It had never been safely proven in Equestria, but then this wasn't Equestria. It wasn't even the same planet and Tempo suspected that it was that fact more than anything else that had encouraged Queen Oscura to construct the air-pocket of a world on the space rock.

It was a testing ground for magic too powerful, dangerous, or incompatible to be used in their own world. The assumption that villains didn't care about the consequences of their actions was only partly true. Queen Oscura was evil without a doubt but she hadn't come to rule by reckless stupidity. She had been a ruthlessly smart dictator and that, more than anything else, was what made her so dangerous.

Finally, Tempo decided what it was that he wanted. Some time away from the busy life. Some time away from all the problems that Equestria threw at them. Just some time of peace and rest. Just some time with his caring wife.

Perhaps Gleaming Shield was having better luck.

· · · · ·

If I could have anything I wanted, it would be a hot bath, a warm blanket, no more guard duty, no more tunnels, and a no-strings-attached trip to anywhere-but-here with Tempo. I'm not sure if the order of those things matters.

Such were Gleaming Shield's thoughts as she found yet another doorway in the dark recesses of the Hall of Horde. It was not the way that she came in and not one of the other twenty-two tunnel entrances that she had uncovered thus far. She was sure of that but not necessarily out of want. It was, after all, yet another place to search with the utmost care.

Not assuming that any of the tunnels were more important, or at least discernible as such, the white mare strode into the new tunnel. Unlike the first one and quite like the others, this passageway had no light at all. The magical lamps hung throughout were devoid of life. It was of no difference to her though, since she had begun to believe that light would reveal little of interest unless it was a trap. She was cautious enough with her own magical light to avoid such things.

Feeling the need for a change of pace, Gleaming Shield switched her horn light to a soothing hue of blue. It was not so colorful that it hurt her visibility but just enough so that it made the underground labyrinth that much more bearable. She was beginning to understand, even by a small amount, why Tempo was against entering the tunnels. It grew old after the first minute and mind-numbing after the next five. At least the mare could exit any time she wished.

The tunnel went on and on just like the last one had until finally Gleaming Shield could see light ahead of her. It hurt a bit at first since she had gradually become accustomed to the darker tunnels but she accepted the more open air with relief. The tunnel she had just exited was apparently another path to the underground hall. She then began to suspect that the other twenty-two tunnels were all the same. Either it had been some vain attempt at architectural artistry or the former queen wanted to maximize the possibility of a prisoner going down to the hall.

Each of those tunnels would need to be individually traveled to ensure that one of them did not hold an extra room or corridor. The monotony of it was enough to make her more tired than she really was. In any case, being top-side, Gleaming Shield thought it worth the effort to check up on her alicorn companion. Where was that pink-coated-?

Her head turned just in time to see the pony in question tackle her to the ground.

"Ow! Rock floor, remember!" the mare complained as she reached a hoof to sooth her aching back.

"Sorry, it's just that it feels like it's been forever since I last saw you." The prince flashed a frown as he apologized and levitated the mare back onto her hooves.

Gleaming Shield gave a deadpan response. "It couldn't have been more than..."

The pink stallion, however, noticed her pause in thought. "Exactly. Something feels off about this place and I don't mean all the nasty devices or the fact that it's a giant floating rock in space."

"...like we're on a completely different measurement of time?" the mare tried to complete the alicorn's suggestion.

"Exactly. I've been getting weird vibes about it and that," he pointed a hoof to the sun, still peaking around the edge of the planet. "Proves it."

Gleaming Shield focused on the ball of light. It hurt only a little to look at since it was mostly hidden but, even from the small portion still present, she could tell that it wasn't moving. Or rather, the sun hadn't moved at all since their arrival.

Tempo cleared her mind with his next suspicion. "I don't think Queen Oscura made this place just to ensure imprisonment. I think she used this place as a testing ground for...other things..."