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// Deaths of Cadence and Shining Armor 
// Story: THE FINAL BATTLE, AND THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA 
// by Robert Emerald Fountain 
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Eventually, Cadence and Shining Armor were both taken to the hospital. Shining was coming down with a severe case of the flu, and Cadence was diagnosed with Black Fever. Black Fever was a disease that had a low chance of surviving without being cured. Flurry was driven to fear when she heard that her mom might die. Soon, the doctors found a cure, and those who had Black Fever, were cured as fast as possible. Flurry Heart was overjoyed when her mom came home from the hospital. However, her dad had lost his life, due to his lungs collapsing without warning. Even though he had been able to see his granddaughter, Diamond was in tears for three hours straight. After realizing that part of the reason she was crying, was that she had had a nightmare, Cadence sang her granddaughter to sleep. Cadence stayed with her daughter, to keep her from being alone. Flurry was thankful for this, but Cadence soon had trouble breathing and dropped to the floor.

"MOM, ARE YOU OKAY?", she asked, panicking.

Cadence could not answer, because she had passed out, and Flurry rushed her to the hospital. She had come down with a rare disease, called Devil's Fever. No cure was known for this disease, and chances of survival were way less than 1%. Cadence battled through lung infections, brain tumors, organs hemorrhaging, and malnourishment. Flurry Heart had to have clearance from the doctors in order to even stay by her mother's side. She had to wear protection, since Cadence was in an isolation room, in the Intensive Care area. Twilight was more than kind enough to watch Diamond while Flurry visited Cadence. Soon after, Cadence had to be put on life-support, and it was thought that they could keep her alive for a few more days. Then, tragedy struck. A severe snowstorm caused a major power outage. The hospital's backup gnerators became overburdened, and shorted out. This caused the life-support machine to fail. Cadence was through. Flurry Heart burst into tears, and helped take the electrodes of of Cadence's skin. Her funeral was held two days later. Everyone was there, crying and praying. Diamond must have lost it all, because Flurry could not get her baby to stop crying and fussing. The entire empire was there, and they shared loving memories about Cadence. Cadence was done up very well, however, because she had ribbons in her hair, and the casket was lined with flowers. They held a candlelight vigil, after Cadence was laid to rest in the Hall of Heroes, next to Shining Armor. They kept her in memory for days to come, never forgetting how beautiful she was.