Princess Cadance looked out of the window of her palace which overlooked the land that her people have governed over for so long. The ponies were all in jubilation as they went on with their daily lives, living it to the fullest. She sighed as she cast her gaze downward out of the window, as this morning she could have only felt a great sense of dread. She could not help but hope that the pony she loved would return to her safely.

The pony she loved said he had to leave for a fortnight, telling her that he had to perform a great act of honour and courage. Something she found skeptical until she heard him speak it was for her, yet it did not cease her from worrying.

As she walked back to her throne, she sat down upon it and awaited the commoners to appear before her so that she would hold court for them. The first one to appear pleaded for her to send guards to protect their village. She gladly complied to the request, feeling it was her duty to safeguard her people. The others were met with some disdain as they requested trivial matters that would do nothing but feed their growing avarice.

When the last appointment was made, she was about to stand up from her throne until the doors were thrown opened again. A knight walked proudly up to her and bowed humbly, before taking off his helmet and revealing his face to her.

She let out a gasp that soon turned into a cry of joy, “Shining Armour!” she shouted out as she ran towards and embraced him.

“My love,” he spoke softly into her ear, then moved his head back so that he could look into her eyes. At that moment, they shared a passionate kiss that lasted for what seemed like an eternity to them but, in actuality, only lasted for a few seconds. “I must ask you a question,” he told her once their kiss had discontinued.

She looked at him inquisitively, seeing his eyes shift with nervously in them. “What is it that you wish to ask me?” she asked him cautiously, seeing him smile proudly and reaching into his pocket.

He drew out a necklace, showing a bright blue crystal in its centre, “Princess Cadance, will you marry me and be my wife?” he asked her as he saw the build up of tears in her eyes.

She was shocked, but happy to hear him ask her that. She thought if this was a proposal price, he did not have to bother with something so beautiful. She would have said yes anyways.

“Yes!” she cried as the tears of joy finally released themselves from her eyes. “Yes, yes, a million times yes!”

Shining smiled warmly, dangling the blue and gold necklace in his fingers. “May I?” he asked.

“Of course,” Cadance said, turning around and lifting up her candy-coloured hair, exposing her deep pink neck. “It would be my honour, my love.”

“Trust me, the honour’s all mine,” her knight responded as he carefully wrapped the necklace around her neck and clipped it on.

“How does it look?” the princess asked, giving Shining a few playful twirls as she modeled the jewelry for him. “Does it look nice?”

“It look beautiful,” Shining smiled, taking Cadance’s hand again. “But only half as beautiful as you.”

“Oh, Shining,” sighed Cadance, giving her lover another quick kiss. “Where did you find such a radiant looking crystal? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. It’s like a sapphire and a diamond but... more... how can I put this? Alive?”

“It’s a dragon’s heart,” answered Shining. “Very rare and difficult to get.”

“Dragon’s heart? I’ve never heard of such a gem.”

“Like I said, very rare and difficult to get,” said Shining, allowing Cadance to stay oblivious to the grim truth behind the stone. “But I would travel to the ends of the earth, face any danger, and slay any beast if it would make you happy.”

“You know you don’t have to do that,” she said. “I’m already the happiest girl in the world because you’re going to be my husband.”

“And I am the luckiest man to be able to wed a mare like you,” Shining smiled as he embraced his soon to be wife. “Hey, are your aunts here?”

“Oh my gosh!” shrieked Cadance. “I have to tell Aunt Celestia and Aunt Luna that you proposed!” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll see you later tonight okay? Then you can tell me all about your little adventure you went off on.”

“I’ll be counting the minutes,” Shining said.

“Good,” she said, breaking the embrace and skipping away from her fiance. “I’ll see you later!”

She parted from her lover and made her way to another wing of the castle. She noticed some of the servants looking at her new necklace with awe and some were looking at it with envious eyes. Once she made it to a large door, the guards opened it for her and she entered it with as much mirth as she had when she first saw Shining.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked on to their niece with joy as she came towards them. Both princesses stood up and walked towards their niece and greeted her with all of the kindness in their hearts. “Our darling niece! How are you today?” Luna asked her, seeing her niece becoming all giddily.

“Well...” she started as she blushed rapidly, putting both her arms behind her back and looking down shyly. “You both remember Shining Armour?”

Both princesses nodded, and looked blankly at her until Celestia looked down on her niece and saw the necklace, “My dearest Cadance, where did you get that?” she asked her as she pointed to the gem.

Cadance smiled happily and held the gem in her soft hands, “Shining gave it to me, he proposed a few minutes ago,” she said excitedly and smiled broadly at her aunts’ stunned faces.

Luna was the first to smile softly before embracing her niece again, “I’m so happy for you!” she told Cadance as they both hugged in pure happiness.

Celestia took a bit longer before she also smiled and embraced Cadance in a tender hug of her own, “So tell me, when will the marriage be if I may ask?” she asked her curiously, seeing her niece’s cheek glow red again.

“Well... that’s still to be decided...”

Both princesses looked at each other, as they both gave a knowing nod to each other. “We will help organize this for you my dear,” Luna told Cadance as she held onto her hand, “For now, you must rest. The day will soon be at its end,” she said as she saw Cadance gave a slight yawn.

“I believe so too, goodnight Auntie Lulu,” she said as she gave Luna a quick peck on her cheek followed by a hug. “Goodnight Auntie Tia.” she told Celestia as she also kissed her aunt’s cheek and gave a quick hug, before she left the throne room.

*****

Candace hummed gently as she opened the door to her room. It had been a wonderful day. Her coltfriend had proposed to her, she had her aunt’s blessings and she was given the most remarkable necklace she had ever seen. Nothing could ruin this day as she got prepared for the perfect evening.

Locking the door behind her, she started to disrobe. Giving a few spins of happiness she carefully let her hair down and fall straight over her shoulders, afterwhich she peeled off her purple shaded dress. She decided to keep the necklace on as she stepped into the private bathroom and started to run a shower. The water felt nice against her fur as the princess began massaging her scalp, washing her hair into a nice silky smooth state. She let the warm water drench her body for a little longer before she finally turned the water off. A quick dry later she covered herself with a towel and walked out, still slightly damp from the shower.

Kicking the bathroom door closed, Cadance walked over to her dresser, searching for her favorite nightgown. She wanted to give Shining a special gift as well tonight. When she finally found her cute little pajamas, she slipped them on. The princess threw her discarded towel in the nearby laundry hamper and settled at her makeup desk and mirror.

Shining would be here any moment, so she picked up her brush and started stroking her hair, getting out all the mats and pressing down any frayed hairs. This was it. She was actually going to be getting married. So many questions rumbled through her head. When would they set a date? What did her aunts have planned for the wedding? Would Shining and her have kids? What if something went wrong?

Cadance shook her head at that last part. Nothing was going to go wrong. Everything was going to be perfect.

How she would regret those words.

“Pain, pain, the mother’s pain...” a whispery voice seemed to speak.

Cadance stopped brushing.

“Hell hath no fury like dragon’s rage...”

“S-shining?” she called out, looking around her empty room. “Are you there?”

“Revenge is a journey you must embark...”

“Shining, this isn’t funny!” Cadance trembled, “Shining Armour?”

“Until he has a Reversal of Heart!”

Cadance suddenly felt a piercing pain in her chest, where the gem was located. She gasped as she fell to the floor and twitched in agony. No voice escaped from her lips, as though she became mute to the world. She looked to her hands, which were changing in shape. She felt hot tears streaming from her eyes as the pain was becoming unbearable.

Her clothing she had on was now being ripped as she felt herself become larger by the second. She looked to her hands again and saw in their place claws. She gasped as she felt her body, which was burning in a blue flame all over. She closed her eyes and wished for it to stop.

She felt cold, as though someone or something was glaring at her with despising eyes. She felt the flames stop and her body stopped changing. She didn’t dare to open her eyes at first, but eventually did so.

She looked into the cracked mirror and backed away as she stood up with haste. In horror, she observed her entire body thoroughly and looked at the mirror again. Where once was a princess, now was a dragon.

She tried to speak, but her soft gentle voice was no more. Instead a rough feminine voice was all that could be heard. She panicked even more as she felt extra appendages on her back. She reached her claws to her back and felt wings protruding from her now rough scales.

“Cadance? Sweetheart?”

Her head turned sharply towards the door and she backed away again, knocking over a candle from the table’s top. It fell on the fabric of her bedsheet covers and immediately set it on fire. She looked around her and saw her room slowly becoming a flaming prison.

“Cadance!?”

Shining Armour entered the room and was shocked at what he saw. Cadance was nowhere to be found, the room was on fire and a dragon was present in the center of the room.

“You!” he growled, pointing at the the princess. “What have you done to Cadance?!”

“Shining I-” she tried to say, tears running down her scaly face. “Shining, I’m scared, what’s happening?”

“Are you mocking me?!” the pony roared as he grabbed the hilt of his sword. “I’ll only ask you one more time, what did you do with Cadance?!”

“Honey, I-I am Cadance!”

“What?” wondered the knight, thinking a little before shaking his head. “Lies! You could never pass for my beloved Cadance!” He withdrew his sword, the blade shining in the reflection of the fire. “What did you do with her? Answer me!”

“Shining, please stop yelling and listen,” cried the dragon princess, doing her best to calm her fiance. “I don’t know how this happened, but I was suddenly transformed into this beast! Please, you have to believe me!”

“Impossible,” muttered Shining. “There is no such spell in existence. No mere mage is powerful enough to cast a transformation spell that powerful! I am not a fool, dragon!”

“Shining I-”

“What’s that around your neck?” he demanded.

Cadance looked down her long pink neck. The necklace that Shining had given her that day was still fastened tightly around it. “This is the necklace you gave me,” she said. “When you proposed to me.”

“I never gave that to you, dragon!” the pony sneered. “You took that from—You ate her, didn’t you?”

“No!”

"You ate my wife!” screamed Shining. “I’ll have your head for that you monster!”

Shining unsheathed his sword and swung at her relentlessly, with his eyes showing nothing but absolute wrath and hatred. He nearly had her, but he missed as she dodged narrowly, backing further away and into the flames.

Cadance was mortified by what she was seeing, this was not the Shining Armour she fell in love with. This was a monster. She could see him come closer to her, and she felt an urge to end him right there. But her feelings intervened and she rushed towards the window and jumped out of it, falling quite a distance before she unfolded her wings and flew off into the distance. She looked back with tears of sorrow falling from her eyes only to be met by the despising glare of the one she loved.

“Coward!” Shining shouted, “Go ahead and run! But know this, I will hunt you down, I will find you, and I will make you suffer for what you did to me!”