"You simply musn't." Rarity paced in a slow circle around the fully-armored Long Road. "There are other ways! There are other warriors!"
Long Road stomped a hoof down. "I am the only paladin in this world. Great darkness is rising, and only I can put it down. It would cost the lives of dozens if not hundreds of Equestria's warriors to match. This is a world that only just begun to understand the power of divinity."
Rarity threw herself around his neck, dragging him towards the ground. "You can't! You musn't! The future..."
Long Road pulled from Rarity, then kissed her just beside her horn. "If I do not return, please think of me well. Move on without me, and find another that will treat your heart well. I am a knight. That is what you desired, and that is what you got."
Tears fell from Rarity's eyes in great greasy flows, messing up her makeup as she fell to her belly. "I don't want a knight! I want you!"
Long Road smiled a wistful smile. "You have me... and I am a knight. I pray to the forces of good that I may yet return, but I go knowing I may not. If I do not return in a month's time, move on." He turned for the door. All too soon, he was gone.
Rarity gazed out her window, waiting for him to return. Day after day, she waited. He never did. She felt no urge to seek another, and for a short time, she wore black, but it felt hollow. "Who am I kidding?" she asked the empty room, throwing down her veil. "I didn't deserve him, and now he's gone!"
Sweetie Belle ran in one day holding a newspaper in her magic. Rarity smiled at her. She never let little Sweetie see her cry or be sad. Sweetie gave her the paper. "Look, it's that donkey!"
Rarity felt her heart shatter. The newspaper declared him a hero of Hoofington, but displayed his still body being carried in a procession. The article went into great and bloody detail about the tremendous battle he had led against one of the final disturbances in the land near the city. The creatures within were the worst kind of depraved evil, and some feared the city would have to be abandoned, until he arrived.
He was a hero. He was her knight. He died just like they did in her romantic books, but in her books, the heroine was never left so alone afterwards. They never talked about that part. Rarity sobbed silently into her pillow, and barely moved until Twilight returned home. Rarity put on a brave face.
When Rainbow asked where Long was, Rarity felt her chest tighten into a painful ball. Swallowing back her tears, Rarity made a dismissive wave, "It just didn't work out. He wanted to be useful and couldn't settle into home life, and off he went. A shame, really, but I do hope the darling finds what he's looking for."
She suggested a trip to the spa with her dear friend, where her tears could be lost in steam and mud. She wouldn't be caught crying. She just couldn't...