Cadenza ci ama, Tuoni ci protegge

by FalloutFilly

Gone, but not forgotten.

Author's Note:

When I say EoH it means Elements of Harmony, meaning the Mane 6 (Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie). For this story I felt like saying Mane 6 sounded wrong for the setting. Also the term KIA means Killed In Action.

-- Canterlot - Day before Mi Amoré Cadenza and Shining Armour's wedding --

"Medic! We need a medic!" Private SilverStar said as he and another solder were carrying their commander to the Canterlot Hospital. There was a large gap where one of the Changelings had hit the building.

"Name and what happened?" One of the Trauma Specialists asked, as they rushed the patient to a room.

"His name is Shining Armour, he was hit by concrete from a building that collapsed as a Changeling hit it." The private explained as they did what they had to to get him ready for treatment. A minute after they hooked up a heart monitor to him it flat lined. The doctors, nurses, and solders looked at one another.

"Shining Armour is dead." One of the nurses said confirming there was no heart beat.

-- Canterlot - 20 minutes earlier --

Before Twilight and the rest had arrived one of the Royal Guards noticed something hitting the shield Shining Armour used to protect Canterlot. The guard went to Shining to report it, but by the time he got there the Changelings broke through. They bombarded the city with everything they could. Unfortunately it was to much for them to handle. The Royal Guard was overwhelmed and couldn't get any messages to the Princesses. As the attack continued the guard was suffering enormous casualties. The Princesses and EoH were preparing for the wedding, they never could have prepared for the news they were about to receive.

-- Canterlot - 1 hour after Shining Armour was declared KIA/30 minutes after the attack stopped --

Thunder knocked at the door of Princess Cadenza.

"Hey Thunder, long time no see, something up?" Cadence said happy to see her old friend, but Thunder did not share the same excitement.

"There was an attack on Canterlot by the Changelings, the guard suffered heavy losses." Thunder started to explain. "They retreated about a half hour ago." Thunder continued.

"Oh, well thank you for the information, I will be sure to pass it on to the rest." Cadence said.

"I didn't finish. One of the losses was Commander Shining Armour." He finished. Cadence looked at him funny, but once she saw the sad look on his face, she knew it was true. She fell on the floor, crying. Thunder picked her up, trying to keep her on her legs, but she lost all ability to stand, he brought her over to the couch and laid her down. Thunder walked over to the door and called for a guard. One heard him and rushed over.

"Can I help you, sir?" He asked.

"Get me Celestia, Luna, and the EoH as soon as possible." Thunder told him. The guard nodded and ran as fast as possible to go get the others. Thunder went back to Cadence's side, she was still sobbing. He picked her up and she rested her head on his shoulder, soaking his armor in tears. He held her tight as he started crying to, he was very close to Shining as well. After a couple more minutes the others had arrived and came into the room.

"We heard about the attack. Is there anything we can do to help?" Celestia started, but when the rest noticed how Cadence was crying they knew something worse had happened.

"Shining Armour is gone, killed in the attack." Thunder said over Cadence crying. The others couldn't believe it, some stood in shock, the rest fell in to tears. After a few seconds Celestia spoke up.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" She asked. Cadence shook her head no. Thunder asked the others to give them some time. Celestia asked if that's what Cadence wanted and she shook her head yes. The others followed Celestia out, leaving Cadence and Thunder alone. After almost an hour Cadence's crying came to a stop.

"What happened?" Cadence asked.

"One of the Changelings hit the building his was next to and a piece of concrete hit him, some of his solders carried him to the hospital, but he died shortly after." Thunder explained.

"Did he suffer?" She asked.

"No, the hit immediately knocked him out, he was out the whole time." Thunder answered.

"Well at least he wasn't in pain, that's all I can ask." Cadence said, trying to make both of them feel better. She wrapped her forelegs around him and pulled him as close as she could. Thunder held her tightly.

"It sucks that we are going from a wedding to a funeral." Cadence said. Thunder made a chuckle under his breath.

"Even now she manages to make a joke, same Cadence I knew." Thunder thought to himself. He kissed the top of her head. Cadence looked up and smiled.

"Thank you." She said.

"For what?" He asked confused.

"Well for one, I'm glad it was you who told me and second you're staying here and helping me get through this, I don't know anypony else who would have." She explained.

"OK, well can you stand up now, we should talk to the others about the wedding and stuff changing." Thunder said.

"Yeah, that would probably be for the best." Cadence said getting off of Thunder, letting him up. "Wait, before we go I need to give you something." She said.

"But, you don't need to, I was doing my job." Thunder insisted. Before he could say anything else she gave him a kiss on the lips. His face grew red, he always wanted to kiss Cadence in school, but now it felt different.

"That's nothing special, just to say thank you, plus I knew you liked me through out school." She stated.

"Alright, so I assume that doesn't leave this room." Thunder said.

"Yes, keep that between us." Cadence replied.

-- Canterlot Castle, Throne room - 15 minutes later --

"So what's the situation with the wedding and stuff?" Cadence said slipping back in to a sad tone.

"Well standard procedure is to have the funeral a day after the casualty, but given the circumstances I'll leave it up to you what happens." Celestia explained to Cadence.

"Well if it's protocol it's protocol, we will have it tomorrow, better get it over with, the longer we wait the harder it will be." Cadence decided.

"Alright then, we will plan it out between me and the Guard, you take the time you need Cadence. Oh, Lieutenant, would you like to be in the service?" Celestia told the two.

"Yes, I will, he was a close friend of mine." Thunder said.

"Alright then, we will put you in the plan." Celestia said. "So what do you guys plan on doing?" She asked Thunder and Cadence. They looked at each other.

"Don't know, probably just hang out and catch up." Cadence said.

"Alright, we will get you if we need something." Celestia said.

"OK then, thank you." Thunder replied.

-- Canterlot Castle, Cadence's room - 10 minutes later --

"So how were things after school?" Cadence asked.

"Well, not much, after I got out I immediately signed up for the Royal Guard. Passed training, worked hard, and eventually got up to Lieutenant, nothing special. Princess." Thunder said, putting emphasis on 'Princess'. Cadence laughed.

"I suppose I changed a little since fillyhood." Cadence joked.

"More than a little, Cadenza." Thunder joked back.

"Listen, there is something I should tell you. When Shining asked me to marry him he made me agree that if anything ever happened to him that I find you and be with you, he didn't want me to just go into a room and not ever love again. He wanted to make it clear that if something happened to take care of it as fast as possible and move on." Cadence explained.

"Well he did mention something like that, but I thought he was just goofing around." Thunder said.

"No, he wouldn't joke about that." Cadence said sternly.

"Good point, he did take that stuff seriously." Thunder agreed. "But, don't you think it's to soon?" He continued.

"Yeah, I wasn't planing on doing that just yet, but after the funeral tomorrow we will talk to Celestia and let her know," Cadence said, getting up and going to her dresser and pulling out a letter. "Before we tell her I want her to read this." Cadence handed Thunder the letter.

"Cadence, after the situation with the threat to Canterlot I wanted to write this so you know what to do if something happens. In a situation where I can't continue I want you to find Lieutenant ThunderShock, our old friend from school, and be with him. I'd rather have you be with somepony else than never be with somepony again. I don't care what you do with him, date, marry, have a foal, have three foals, it doesn't matter, just as long as long as you are happy. Please don't cry when I'm gone, just do what you have to and move on, don't dwell on it longer than you have to. If Celestia questions you and Thunder about being together show her this, I'm sure she'll understand. Also tell Twilight and my parents the same thing, don't worry and carry on. Show them this as well. Take anything of mine you want, as well as Twilight and my parents, anything you don't want get rid of. Also just remember I'm always there, I'm always your Shining Armour." Thunder finished the letter, only to see Cadence crying again. He put it on the table and walked over to her and hugged her.

"It'll be alright. We'll talk to Celestia and see what she says." Thunder said, holding her tightly again. Cadence quickly stopped crying and hugged him back.

"Well it's late, I imagine your tired, plus we have the funeral tomorrow, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Thunder said, letting go and walking towards the door.

"Wait!" Cadence said a little louder than she wanted to. Thunder turned around.

"Yeah?" He said looking at Cadence, who's face was dark red from embarrassment.

"Umm, how do I explain this? Well, I'm used to having somepony to cuddle with at night and without Shining I don't have anypony to, so I was wondering if you would like to lay with me tonight?" Cadence's face was pinker than her coat. Thunder laughed.

"Dear Celestia, even when she's embarrassed she's cute as can be." He thought to himself.

"OK, I don't have a problem with that." Thunder said, but quickly realized something. "But wait, what if somepony comes in and sees us?"

"Oh, don't worry Celestia and them know I have to cuddle, even without Shining, honestly me and Celestia slept together once, because I like to cuddle that much." Cadence explained.

"Oh, well as long as nopony gets pissed." Thunder laughed.

"It's fine, besides, it's what Shining would want." She said as she walked up to him and grabbed his hoof and pulled him to her bed. She pulled him close to her and kissed his cheek.

"Come on, I'm tired." Cadence whispered in his ear. He looked at her and she had the cutest eyes.

"Why does she have to be so fu*king cute?" Thunder thought.

"Alright, well if you want to do this let's do it right." He said picking her up and carrying her to the bed.

"Oh, OK, I can live with that." She said smiling and pushing her muzzle in to his neck. He smiled back at her, he felt like Shining would be upset, but with Cadence assuring him it's fine and thinking about it, he felt like it's something Shining would want. Thunder set Cadence down and then he got in the bed.

"So how are we going to do this?" Thunder asked.

"Well, I'll start." Cadence said, wrapping her forelegs around Thunder's neck. Thunder didn't move, he just stared at Cadence's eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Cadence asked Thunder, who was just staring plainly.

"No, it's just your eyes." He said.

"What's wrong with them?" She questioned.

"Nothing, that's the thing, they're beautiful." He finished. Cadence smiled and pushed herself closer to him.

"Can I tell you something?" She said, going from happy to serious.

"Yeah, of course." Thunder assured.

"OK, but it can't leave this room, at least not yet anyway. Got it?" Cadence warned him. Thunder nodded. "OK, well the truth is I always liked you, not as a friend, but something more." She told him.

"But wait, how come you never told me?" He asked.

"You never seemed interested, not to me or anypony else. You always talked to your friends about being in the Royal Guard or the EQMC (Equestrian Marines Corps)." She said.

"Oh, well I was, but I figured you'd wanna be with somepony else, not just another grunt in the guard or EQMC." He said, with a saddened look.

"Well I do wish you would have asked me." She complained.

"But you told me earlier when you gave me the thank you present you said you knew I liked you." He stated.

"That's because I learned after we got out of school and I started dating Shining." She admitted. "Remember, after school you went and joined the EQMC and then got deployed, but stopped replying, so I thought you were dead, so I moved on to Shining, but when you got back I wanted to end it with Shining and go to you, but he asked me to marry him and then I remembered you had a fillyfriend from school anyway."

"Well her and I broke up when I was overseas." He said sadly. "And after I got back I saw you with him and I knew you liked him after you became Twilight's foalsitter. So I figured we both had moved on." They just looked at each other. After a few seconds they found themselves kissing. A minute or two later they stopped.

"I can't believe we never bothered to talk to one another." Cadence said. "Well to be fair Shining did know of my feelings for you, so I don't think he'd mind that we get together."

"Well, we do have a long day tomorrow and I'm tired so let's get some sleep, please." Thunder asked, smiling at her.

"OK." Cadence said as she turned around and pushed her back in to his chest and put her forehooves up to her chest. Thunder knew her well enough to know what she was doing. He wrapped his forelegs around her chest and forelegs, pulling her close. He then lifted the blanket over them two of them.

"Good night, Lieutenant." Cadence said just before falling asleep, but before she did Thunder said something.

"Good night, Princesses Cadenza." Thunder said, then thought: "Huh, never would have heard myself saying that." After a couple minutes Cadence was fully asleep, Thunder kissed her forehead and then feel asleep seconds later.

Comments

[Thunder-Bolt]

Huh... that was an... intresting read.