//------------------------------//
// When Frozen Hearts Beat 
// Story: Dark Arts and Kind Hearts 
// by Boomstick Mick 
//------------------------------//

"I'm begging you, for the love you bear me, please don't do this!" Fluttershy's pleas were an echo that reverberated up and down the underground corridor. The queen breathed deep, heavy breaths as she struggled to keep up with her lofty husband's strides. "You don't have to do this!" she continued. 


Sombra noticed the way his wife was huffing and puffing behind him. She was heavy with foal, and the smoky haze emitted from the torches ensconced along the stone walls of the poorly ventilated hall wasn't doing her any favors. He slowed his pace so that she would have an easier time keeping up with him. "Vows were made, little dove," he said, when she managed to fall in beside him. "I cannot go back on them, lest others believe me to be without teeth. Issuing a threat that is not followed upon is the worst mistake a king can make. Weakness breeds doubt. Doubt breeds unrest. Unrest breeds chaos."


"Is that what this is all about?" Fluttershy demanded. "You're going to butcher two defenseless mares in their beds, all because you can't stand the thought of our subjects thinking you merciful?"


"It's not about being perceived as merciful. It's about being perceived as weak." 


"Mercy and weakness are two different things!"


"Mercy was not having my assassins summarily executed for their actions. Mercy was giving your stubborn friend the option to join me. The time for mercy is over. The time for action is now. I drew a line in the sand, and it's been crossed." 


"You're seeing things in black and white again. What is it with you thinking that everything is either one thing or the other. Has there ever been a middle line with you! Can't you just for once in your life meet me half way on something?"


"Not on this. Mercy and weakness are two sides of the same coin. Do not confuse one for the other. I've told you that many times. It's like you intentionally forget every lesson I try to teach you; one ear and out the other." 


"I could say the same to you! What have I told you about letting your heart be your guide?"


The King's nose wrinkled. "Mawkish, cloying, fairy-princess storybook excrement," He spat. "What would you have me do about these murderous friends of yours, shit rainbows at them?"


"I would have you consider other options!" 


There are no other options to consider. 


Sombra kept his eyes forward as he traversed the hallway, every step filled with intent. The two guards posted at the apothecary's laboratory were coming into view, their crimson cloaks drinking the light of the nearby torches. The sentries were stationed there as insurance. The King had wisely taken every precaution, to ensure that his would-be assassins would be right where he left them. For all Sombra knew, Celestia's offer could have been a ruse, to lull him into a false sense of security. She could have agents anywhere and everywhere, ready to extract his prisoners at the first opportunity. 


Sombra's father had once told him that no king in history grew old by taking chances. It was the one valuable lesson the bastard had taught him, Tartarus rest his black soul. He didn't trust half of his staff, and he trusted Blue Blood even less. Even his own wife had been plotting behind his back, he had found to his discontent. It wounded him once she had confirmed his fears for him, but for the life of him he could not be angry with her. She had noble intentions. Yet, even the most evil among us can have 'noble' intentions... Isn't that right, father?


"You can't intend on going through with this," Fluttershy went on. From the moment they had left Starlight's chamber, she had been assailing her husband with nonstop pleas for mercy for her friends. Her desperation grew the closer they got to the laboratory. 


"That's enough, little dove," Sombra said to her, gently. "This is a kingly duty. If you'd rather not watch, and I don't blame you if you do not, you can turn around. In fact, I would implore you to do so. You haven't been getting enough rest lately."


"How can I rest knowing what you're about to do?"


Sombra chose not to reply to that. She fully intended on begging and pleading until the deed was finally done, and nothing more could be said about it. Nothing he could say would convince her to do otherwise. The only question was: should he allow her to be present to witness their deaths? It would go hard on her. She may never be the same again.


"It doesn't have to be this way!" She took him by the hoof, when they were standing before the entrance to the apothecary's lab. She tugged at him in a feeble attempt to turn him around. "Let's just go back to our chamber and talk about this."


Sombra caressed her on the cheek and said remorsefully, "There has been too much talking. The time for talk is over, little dove." He freed his hoof from her grasp and sidestepped her. 


The guards saluted him as he pushed the door open. The King looked to one of them and gestured for him to follow him into the laboratory. The sentry acknowledge the command with a silent nod before filing through the doorway behind him.


Sombra could see them once he was inside the lab. His wannabe assassins. His attempted regicides, laying silent and dead to the world in their beds. Soon they would be truly dead. All but for the lavender one. Like so many captive aristocrats before her, her status has saved her life. 


Fluttershy stepped in front of Sombra, and embraced him fiercely, as if to physically hold him back. "If you love me you won't do this!" she cried.


She can't be allowed to watch, Sombra decided. It would destroy her. "Wait for me outside."


"I swear, I'll hate you if you do this!"


"So you've said." Sombra freed himself of her embrace. "This is not something you should witness. I ask again that you leave me to my duty." 


"Duty?" Fluttershy scoffed. "So, you do your 'duty,' as you call it. You do away with Sunset Shimmer and Moon Dancer, then what's next? Where will you go from there?" 


"After the bodies have been disposed of, I shall concoct the formula that will rouse the princess. After she has been awakened, I will have her bathed and fed before she is safely escorted back home. And that will be the end of it. We can finally put this nasty piece of business behind us, and we can continue to focus on building our kingdom."


Fluttershy glared up at him, blue eyes shimmering behind a film of tears. "How can you say all that so coldly? You're talking of murdering helpless girls in their sleep and then disposing of their bodies, like... like you're talking about taking out the trash."


"My love--"


"Don't you 'my love' me!" Fluttershy cut him off. "I swear, if you do this--"


"You'll hate me?" Sombra guessed. "So you've said. Twice."


"I'll leave you!" Fluttershy vowed. "I'll take the baby and flee somewhere far, far away. Somewhere where you'll never be able to find us!" 


The Queen's declaration took Sombra aback. It was a rare occurrence when words could wound him. The trials and tribulations of his childhood had hardened him, rendering his skin all but impervious to societies slings and arrows, but his queen always seemed to know where the chinks in his armor were located. "This is folly!" He exclaimed. "Hollow threats do not become you."


"It's not a threat, it's a promise!" Fluttershy punctuated the end of her sentence with a stamp of her hoof.


"You would deny me your love -- deny me my own child?"


The Queen hugged her belly. "Our child," she corrected him. "You seem to forget that I'm doing most of the work, here. All you did was plant a seed. I'm the one who has to grow it."


"A contribution you certainly didn't seem to mind receiving," The King said dryly.


The guard that had followed them in shuffled his hooves uncomfortably.


"I've had enough of this." Sombra turned to the doorway. "You, outside, I need you to escort The Queen to our chamber."


The guard stationed outside slid into the doorway. "Yes, sire." 


"What?" The Queen backed away from the approaching sentry. "You can't just send me to my room like you're my father!"


The sentry took her gently by the hoof, not daring to seize her as he might when apprehending a common thief or a trespasser. It was obvious that he only meant to guide her, but Fluttershy ripped her hoof away from him as if he was trying to abduct her. "Don't touch me. I'm not going anywhere!"


The guard looked at The King helplessly. "She doesn't want to come with me, sire."


Sombra sighed. "Please, my queen, don't make this more difficult than it has to be." He looked to the guard and nodded him on. 


The guard approached The Queen again. "I'm sorry about this, your highness. Please be reasonable." He took her by the arm. She tried to pull away, but the guard held her firmly this time. 


"Reasonable?" Fluttershy bellowed. "I'm the only one here who's being reasonable!" Suddenly, she threw herself into him and snatched his dagger from his sheath. The sentry tried to reclaim it, but he disengaged with a yelp when she slashed at him, opening a shallow cut across his exposed muzzle. "Stay back!" she demanded. "Don't... Don't make me do something I'll regret!" She then sidled herself between Sombra and the beds where her friends slept. "I won't let you do this!" she shouted, tears streaking down her cheeks. "I won't let you hurt them!"  


Sombra made a slow advance toward her, careful to not excite her further. "Stop this foolishness. There's no need for this."


Fluttershy backed away, until one of the beds behind her permitted her no more space. 


Sombra spoke as soothingly as he could. "I'm not angry with you," he promised, taking a step toward her. "Give me the weapon -- please."


"Stay back!" Fluttershy thrust the dagger out in his direction, the steal quivering in her tremulous hooves. "Don't make me hurt you!"


Sombra took another step. "Just give me the dagger." Then he took another step. He was just coming into reaching distance of her when he held his hoof out.  "Give it here, and we'll forget this happened. I promise. I just don't want you to hurt yourself."


Fluttershy's eyes flashed. She suddenly turned the knife on herself, pressing the tip firmly against the center of her breast. "Not one more step!" she shouted, placing both hooves firmly on the handle. "You don't want me to hurt myself? Then back away!"


Sombra froze. The guards stepped back.


"You're going to wake all of them," Fluttershy demanded, her eyes wide, almost crazed. "Then, you're going to free Starlight. I'm taking them home."  


A bluff, Sombra knew. "And what of the little one inside of you? You would willingly bring harm to our child?"


The Queen shook her head. "Just... Just stay back!" It came out as more of a plea than a demand.


Slowly, carefully, Sombra advanced on her, took her by her shaking hooves, then pulled them apart. The dagger fell and clattered upon the stone floor. "You must forgive me," he said. There was a heaviness in his chest. "Not today, or tomorrow, but I pray that someday you do." And then he pulled for the magic in his horn.


"What are you doing?" Fluttershy exclaimed, the panic in her voice rising. "What are you going to do!"


Sombra released the spell in a blinding flash of white light. Fluttershy's eyes rolled to the back of her head, her legs buckled, and she fell limply into her king's embrace. "Damn you for making me do this," he whispered.


One of the guards stepped forward. "What did you do to her, sire?"


With a heart full of regret, Sombra said, "A sleeping spell."


"Would you have me take her to her chamber, my liege?"


"Yes... That would be best." He handed her off to the guard, who placed her delicately on his back. "And, if you could, make sure the fire in our chamber is strong. Feed it if it needs it. The night is cold, and it grows colder still."


"Aye, my king." The guard saluted him before he turned and exited the laboratory with the queen on his back, his movements slow and steady, so as to not jostle his passenger.


The King waited for the door to close before he turned his attention on his attempted assassins laying vulnerably in their beds. "Right, then," he said to the second guard, "let's get this over with."


The guard obediently followed him to one of the gurneys, where he stood at the opposite side from his king. Sombra studied the mare laying before him. "Sunset Shimmer, I believe was this one's name." The King studied her gold and red hair, her copper toned fur. "Her name suits her. She embodies the sunset itself." He grasped the sheet covering her and peeled it back until it was mid length with her body, then he lifted his gaze to the sentry standing across from him. "Do you have your dagger?"


"Of course."


"Good," The King said, coldly. "Draw it."


The guard looked at him as if he wasn't quite sure he had heard the order correctly. "Draw my, uh, dagger, sire?"


"Yes."


"May I ask why?"


"Fool, why do you think I brought you here," Sombra said, gesturing to the sleeping mare sprawled on the bed between them. "Is it not obvious what I want you to do?"


The guard looked down at the mare, unsure. He touched the compartment where his dagger was located, but he didn't draw it. "You want... You want me to do your-- To do the deed?"


To do your dirty work, that was what he was about to say, Sombra knew. "Yes," he said flatly, giving the guard an impatient look.


The guard placed his hoof upon the handle of his dagger, but he kept the blade firmly sheathed. "Sire," he said, "If I may be so bold--"


"You may not!" Sombra snapped. "Do as your king commands: Draw your dagger."


The guard mumbled something as he reluctantly unsheathed his blade.


"What was that?" Sombra said.


"I said..." The guard hesitated. "I said, I don't know if i can do this."


"You don't know how to kill?"


The guard shook his head. "I'll kill for you, sire. I would even die for you. But, this just feels wrong. It's one thing to strike down a combatant with a weapon raised to you, but to butcher a defenseless mare in her sleep... There's no honor in it."


"She's anything but defenseless," Sombra informed him. "She's an assassin. She tried to kill me. And she came damn close. I'll not risk a second attempt. Now, then, you just said you were prepared to kill for me. Prove to me that wasn't an empty proclamation."


"Yes, sire," the guard said, his tone meek and acquiescent. He looked down at the mare, then he looked at his blade. He upended it with the point facing down, then rested the sharp tip upon a gap between her ribs, directly where her heart was located.


"So, you do know how to kill," Sombra observed. "Very good. Now, in, to the hilt. Then back out, in two smoothe motions."


"Y-yes, sire," the guard stammered, but he did not move.


"She won't feel it. I promise you. She's practically dead to the world already."


"That is good to know." The sentry placed both of his hooves on the handle, he gritted his teeth, and then, finally... The leather rasped as he returned the dagger to its sheath. "I can't, sire," he said apologetically.


Sombra gave him a hard glare. "You're defying a direct order from your king?"


The sentry, shamed, averted his eyes.


The King sneered. I'm surrounded by sentimental fools. "Get out of my sight."


The guard looked more relieved than chagrined as he retreated.


The King espied the dagger on the stone floor. The absentminded fool who had let himself be disarmed neglected to reclaim it before he left. If you want something done right... He retrieved the blade and returned to his attempted killer's bedside.


The air in the laboratory seemed to take on an evil sort of presence as he stood over Sunset Shimmer, the blade flashing in his grasp. He felt that he at least owed her honors before sending her off. "Sunset Shimmer," he said, appreciating the name, and all the beautiful images it invoked. "You fought well." He took a moment to think of what else he could say about her. "Your eyes were blue, if I recall correctly. A unique kind of blue. Almost green, in the right kind of light. I wish I knew more about you, so that I could pay you proper tribute. Unfortunately, I only know three things about you: Your name was Sunset Shimmer. You fought well. And your eyes... Your eyes were blue..." He aimed the point of the dagger into the gap between her ribs. He lifted it, then hesitated as his queen's face surfaced in his mind. A profound and inexplicable sadness came over him, and he lowered the blade.  


The King cursed himself as his vision began to blur. He wiped his face angrily with the back of his hoof. What's wrong with me! It had been centuries since he had shed an actual tear, he wasn't about to start now. I've been surrounded by sentimental fools for so long, I'm starting to become one. 


His chest felt tight as he again forced himself to raise the dagger. He thought of his wife. Sombra swallowed his heart, whispered an apology, then forced the dagger to fall.