• Published 5th Aug 2014
  • 7,816 Views, 317 Comments

Together Forever - Snake Staff



Centuries in the future, Shining Armor lives on with his beloved wife. But what price does immortality demand?

  • ...
24
 317
 7,816

Machinations

Cadence

Our time with grandfoals proves to be the last time either of us has any fun over the next two days. The schedule for the hosts is packed as the World Forum nears its climax. Auntie Luna’s promised me a grand display to send off our guests on that final night. I have no doubt she’ll keep her word on that, and it takes the matter out of my hooves, but Shining and I still have a lot of work to do between events. Shiny has to take on the challenge of maintaining our security, keeping hundreds of delegates from mutually hostile nations from descending into a brawl, and of course protecting the Crystal Empire from all manner of theft and vandalism that is almost unavoidable when cramming large numbers of foreigners into close proximity with treasures, cultural or otherwise. And then he frequently insists on getting into the metaphorical trenches to personally our staff in setting up, though I think that’s mostly so he doesn’t have to appear in public more.

As to yours truly? Well, I am of course responsible for maintaining our diplomatic relations in the midst of organized chaos. That is, I have to endure an unending parade of offended dignitaries complaining about this, that, and the other, smile and nod politely, and convince them to drop the matter. It’s not uncommon that two different complaints from two different dignitaries are mutually exclusive, with all the headache for me that implies. Coupled to this, as offensive as I may find it, many of our more superstitious visitors refuse to meet with Shining alone outright, and most meetings go more smoothly when it’s just the alicorn princess presiding. So I get no support whatsoever. Add to that my usual burden of functioning as the highest court in the land, the standard daily pile of bureaucratic paperwork to sign off on, and dealing with empire’s many complaints, and I confess I find myself almost wishing Discord were here to screw everything up. It would be just as much work, but at least he could make me laugh first.

At any rate, two long days of speeches, feasts, conferences, backroom deals, and the general flow of such things later Shining and I find ourselves at the final event of the penultimate day of festivities: the ball. As the hosting kingdom, it is traditional for the royal pair to take the first dance. Shining Armor loves to dance. I love to dance. Great, right?

Wrong.

Dancing as couple is another pleasure that is denied us these days. The size imbalance between us makes it difficult, and Shiny’s body seals the deal. It’s heavy as only rock can be, and makes far too much noise on the polished crystal of the ballroom floor to appear graceful. Though we do it sometimes in private, for fun, Shining and I would only embarrass ourselves trying to lead this off. Shiny suggested that I should get a new partner for the occasion, but I refused. I did this to him, so when he suffers, I suffer. That’s my rule, and I will not do otherwise: I will take no other husband, I will take no consort, and I will take no other dance partner.

So it is that the two of us stand around the sidelines of the dancing floor while elegant classical music plays in the background and dozens of other couples twirl about. Shining’s face is resolutely neutral, as always, but I can feel the waves of disappointment and desire coming off of him. I don’t know of much to cheer him up besides wrapping his shoulder in a comforting wing, so I try that. He pulls away after just a few seconds, and I let him go. He wants to be alone now, and I can at least give him that.

My thoughts are cut short by a familiar voice. “Cadence? Is everything alright?”

I look to my left to find the source. “Oh, hello Auntie Celestia.” I give her a fake smile. “Everything’s fine, why do you ask?”

“Because you are standing alone in a crowd wearing a glum expression on that face of yours.”

I am? Damn, I thought I covered it up better.

“… Am I really that obvious?”

“Not at all,” she gives me a warm smile. “I simply know you very well. I assure you that it is not so obvious to everypony around us.”

Thank the gods for small miracles, I suppose.


Celestia

“Would you like to talk about what’s made you unhappy?” I ask, certain that I know the answer before my niece says a single word.

She sighs slightly and shakes her head. “No thanks, Auntie.” As I thought.

“Can I do anything to help you right now?” I press. Again, I don’t truly need to ask.

“I don’t think so, no,” she answers flatly. “Not unless you know a spell for improved ballroom dancing.”

“I’m afraid not,” I respond, truthfully.

“Then no.”

I nod politely, my face the image of a concerned aunt. Which I am. “Very well then. Perhaps you wish me to find somepony else to talk with?”

Cadence nods back at me. “I think that would be best, Auntie.”

I hug the smaller alicorn around the neck and give her a brief nuzzle. “Alright, but remember, if there’s ever anything you want to talk to me about, know that I’m always here for you.”

She returns my hug with a single leg. “Thank you. I’ll remember, I promise.”

“I know you will,” I answer, already beginning to fade into the crowd. Well, fade as much as I ever do in any crowd.

She’s seen me up close and personal. Good. It is vital for both the health and welfare of our respective nations, as well as more… personal reasons, that Cadence believe I had nothing to do with what is to happen tonight. My assigned role is that of the shocked but supportive aunt, a shoulder for my niece to cry on and somepony she can rely on while she picks up the pieces of her shattered world. I will help her move through the grieving as I have done for many ponies before her.

Of course, I’m usually not the cause of the grief. So that’s relatively new. It’s not a feeling I particularly relish.

I need an alibi for this eve’s events. Everpony, Cadence especially, must know that I was here, that I cast no magic, and that nopony ever wonder what I was up to. The best way to hide a lie, I’ve found, is to wrap it in truth. I will achieve a perfect alibi by actually being here throughout the ball, casting no magic, and genuinely doing nothing in particular. So it is that I wander the ballroom, making pleasant conversation with dozens of ambassadors and delegates and all manner of political creatures.4

My agent will handle the dirty work. Lady Rose Quartz and her type are perfectly predictable – I’ve seen far too many of them in my own lands not to recognize them on sight – she wishes for high-value marriages to boost the status of her children and grandchildren. Her own union having been a purely political affair, she has little comprehension of and even less respect for any marriage not for the purpose of producing strong, noble heirs to the bloodline. She has risen as far as she will go, but for her son and her daughter, the future could hold more. Persuading her to go along with this plan required only simple bribery.

But her predictability is not why I chose her for this task. No, the reason I selected her was that she had a believable existing motive and standing dislike for Shining Armor. If all goes well, nopony should receive any blame at all. But if something goes wrong, I cannot afford to risk public fighting or even war with the Crystal Empire. A scapegoat is a necessity, and she the fits the bill admirably.

An alicorn in a blind rage, you see, is a powerful, but unthinking force. If Cadence should guess, or perhaps even suspect, the role the lady plays in this, I have no doubt in my mind that my niece will brutally kill her. I know that if anypony did this to Twilight or… gods forbid, Luna, I would hunt them to the ends of the earth and beyond to smite them down, or die trying.

Naturally, when I sold this plan I downplayed that risk to Lady Quartz, but in all frankness I rate her chances of surviving the night at no more than half. I don’t believe anypony truly deserves to die… but this isn’t the first time I’ve ordered ponies into dangerous situations for the greater good. I’m willing to accept more blood on my hooves and risk another stain on a weary conscience if it secures the safety of tens of thousands of innocent ponies. Nothing must be more important to an alicorn than her duty to her ponies. To allow personal sentiment to override for even a moment the objective greater good of all… that is a dark path that my sister once trod, and which I refuse to go down.

I will weep bitter tears for my niece and my nephew for millennia to come, and their heartbroken faces will haunt my nightmares, but feelings will never stop me from doing what is right.


Shining Armor

I take long, slow steps through the greenhouse gardens. The humid air condenses quickly onto my body, soaking me in mock sweat and, I’m sure, ruining my evening jacket. I’m sure my tailor will have a minor aneurysm over this, but right now I just want to be alone, and this is the best place for that.

This isn’t living. The damn voice sees fit to remind me.

This evening has been… taxing, to say the least. Cadence and I used to love to dance together. But I can’t pull it off in public, not like this. Just because I can’t enjoy myself doesn’t mean she shouldn’t, so I asked if she would consider dancing with somepony else. I assured her I don’t mind – not entirely true, but I want her to be happy more than I want to be happy. But does that mare listen? No. Her damned alicorn martyrdom complex comes to the fore again, and her refusal is actually loud enough to crack a vase in our room. I was lucky I don’t have eardrums to damage. What did I ever do to deserve a wife as beautiful and loyal as her?

I’ll tell you what: nothing.

I can feel my frustration building as I continue my solitary walk. Damn that mare! What does she see in me?! Why does she insist on stooping to my level just to try and make me happy? She deserves to be able to enjoy herself freely, without worrying about hurting her failure of a husband in the process.

What? You think I’m not a failure? Please, I failed from the very beginning of our marriage. I failed to protect my bride from being kidnapped and tossed into an abandoned mine before our wedding even happened. My will was too weak, my senses too blind, to detect that, oh yeah, a hideous bug queen replaced my alicorn bride and was sucking the life and love out of me on a daily basis. I had to be rescued. Rescued, on my own wedding day, by my own little sister and bride. The two ponies I wanted to protect more than anything else in world, and they had to protect me. Then when the Crystal Empire returned, I failed. I tried to stand up to Sombra keep him away from my family and friends, and the only thing I got for it was my magic sealed off and then tossed aside as too weak to even be worth killing. Literally the only meaningful contribution I made towards saving the day was tossing my wife like a javelin. And of course, when Tirek returned and Discord betrayed us, I failed again. He swatted my best aside like an insignificant insect and ate my magic. If Tirek hadn’t been so blinded by his own self-conceit, had he been just a tiny bit more cautious, he could have murdered my helpless wife and her two royal aunts on the spot. And there would have been absolutely nothing I could have done to stop it. So once again I failed to meaningfully protect anypony and had to be bailed out by little Twily and her friends.

Some captain of the guard I am.

This isn’t living.

Shut up already, voice.

Buck it all. What does that mare see in me?! What makes me – insignificant, blundering little me – so important that she feels compelled to deny herself for all eternity just for the sake of not making me feel bad? What am I? We’ve already established that I’m failure at the thing I want most, my very own special talent. In addition to that, I’m a useless… crippled… eunuch. I can’t even perform the most basic of marital duties with my wife any longer, and she still insists on staying with me. Damn her martyrdom complex to the depths of Tartarus! She deserves a better husband than me.

“On that, my Prince, we are agreed.”

What? What the hell?! My eyes bolt from side to side, taking in the greenhouse around me. Where the hell did that voice come from?! It takes me a second to finally muster the common sense to just look behind me. Some guard I am – anypony could have crept up on me unawares and attacked, and I would have been too busy wallowing in my own inadequacies until it was too late.

It’s dark in here at this time of night, but my eyes pick out the light pink mane and shimmering white coat of Lady Rose Quartz. A thousand questions run through my mind. What is she doing here? What does she want? How did she reply to what I said earlier?

“You are mumbling, my Prince. I can hear you.”

… Oh.

I bolt my trap shut posthaste. Tartarus’ gates, now I’m talking to myself too? I can’t honestly blame her for thinking me a freak.

She takes a few steps forwards. Now that I take the time to look, I can see she’s still in her elaborate blue ballgown she wore to the festivities inside. She’s sweating in the humid greenhouse air, and her silk clothing isn’t handling all that fluid very well. Her expression remains impassive in spite of all that, as she bows before me.

“At ease,” I say. This is weird, and I don’t know what she’s doing here. But I’m guessing she’s about to tell me.

Lady Rose Quartz raises herself back from her bow. “As his majesty wishes.”

“Would you care to drop the formalities and explain to me why you’re here? This is hardly the place for silk ballgowns.”

“It is hardly the place for uniform jackets either, your majesty,” she observes drily. “But if you would know, I have come here to talk to you. Away from all prying eyes.”

“Grand.” I’m already remembering my last chat in the greenhouses. I wonder if I’ll need to break another flower pot.

“I simply wished to ask you a few questions. If that is acceptable to his majesty” She takes a few more steps forward, into a patch of moonlight.

I’m a prince. She’s merely a lady. I don’t have to answer anything I don’t want to. But… I look at her inquisitive face, and that look in her eyes… Well, what harm could it do to merely bandy a few words? If it gets uncomfortable, I can always leave.

“You have my permission.” I urge her on.

“My thanks, your highness,” she gives me another little bow before continuing. “Do you love your wife?”

“What?” Can she really be that oblivious? Isn’t it obvious for all the world to see?

She raises an eyebrow. “Do you love your wife, my Prince?”

I look into her eyes again. Part of me is offended by this, but… another part wants to see where this is going. “I do,” I answer.

“Part of love is always doing what is best for the loved pony, is it not so?”

“It is so,” I reply in a level tone, holding our eye contact this time.

“It is good that you know this.” She gives a pained sigh, and her eyes look a bit sad. “Some think that I do not know what love is. But I assure you, my Prince, that I love my children with all my heart. I wish nothing but the best for them. I know what it is like to care for another pony above and beyond my own welfare or even existence. I am sure you felt the same way about yours?”

“I did,” I confirm.

She actually looks… sympathetic? “Nopony should have to witness their children perish. Do you not agree?”

I nod vigorously, actually starting to feel a bit insulted. Does she think I don’t remember how hard it was to bury the twins, when the time came? If I had had tear ducts, I would have filled a river, I think.

“And yet you must do that very thing. And what’s more, your wife is condemned to that very fate alongside you.”

Cadence… gods, I remember when our first child died. The late night sobbing and nightmares didn’t stop for more than a year.

“Do you know why that is, Prince Shining Armor?”

“Because of me,” I break our eye contact to look at my hooves.

A white hoof comes under my chin and lifts it up. She stares into my eyes, and I into hers. If I wanted, I could have her arrested for touching me without permission… but I find I don’t want to.

After a long time, she speaks again. “It is an incontestable fact that all mortal life must die. And because of you, her children are mortal.”

I nod again. It’s true – an alicorn can only produce more of its own kind by mating with another alicorn. Cadence didn’t want to talk about it, but I read Twily’s studies into the matter. I always try to read whatever my LSBFF publishes.

Lady Quartz sighs again. “You are not the only pony here who cares for our princess, Shining Armor. I was there, the day of Sounding Trumpet’s funeral.”

Sounding Trumpet. Our great-great-grandson, and the last of his generation to die. Of lung disease I think it was, a few years ago. Gods… I don’t even one hundred percent remember how my own descendants died. I’m horrible.

She continues. “I saw our princess there. I saw the pain on her face. I saw the tears in her eyes.”

I wince. Cadence has always had a big heart, especially for our little foals. She never takes their deaths well, even after all these years.

“I do not really feel that I need to ask this, but…” she hesitates. “You do not like that, correct?”

“What?!” I feel angry now. How dare she?! How dare she ask a question like that?! I glare angrily into her eyes. “Of course I don’t!”

She nods sympathetically. “And do you wish you could have instead given her children that she could have loved and cherished forever?”

How is that even a question?! I snarl. “Be very careful, Lady. You are treading on very thin ice now. I will tolerate much, but questioning my desire to spare my wife pain… you go too far.”

She recoils a bit, but maintains her eye contact. “I understand. Such things are sensitive. But what if I told you…” She pauses, looking uncertain.

“Told me what?” I ask, in a somewhat less angry tone.

“My Prince, what if I told you that there was a stallion who could?”

My eyes go wide. “What?!”

“What if I told you that out there, right now, is an alicorn stallion with his eyes on your wife? What would you say to that?”

“You’re lying,” I point a hoof at her. “I’ve been ruling this empire for centuries, and have spoken to the peoples of many lands. None of them have seen such a thing. The last alicorn stallion to exist was Celestia’s father Solaris, who died fighting Discord.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Am I? Look into my eyes, my Prince, and tell me if I speak the truth.”

I do. Our eyes lock onto each other, my crystal blue and her flowery violet. We just stare at each other for… I don’t know how long. Long enough for the beams of moonlight filtering in through the roof to substantially change their angle. But time ceases to matter to me. The only thing that matters is peeling back this mare’s mind, discovering if she speaks the truth…

Sweet Celestia, she’s being honest.

I break our eye contact and blink, too stunned to say anything. I don’t trust my voice to work right anyway.

“Do you believe me now, highness?”

I nod dumbly, still unable to work up words. An alicorn. An alicorn male. A pony who could truly be the mate Cadence deserves forever. A pony who could give her children that she could love and cherish for all time, instead of a brief period followed by endless grief. But that won’t happen.

Because I’m in the way.

“You know your wife, my Prince. You know that she will never abandon you, as long as you live.”

I nod again.

As long as I live…

“Do you know what you must do, Shining Armor?” Her hoof forces me back into eye contact. She stares hard at me, while I fight the urge to shrink away under shame and guilt. “If you truly love and want the best for your princess, do you know what you must do now?”

I nod. Slowly at first, but with increasing conviction as the idea permeates throughout my mind.

Lady Rose Quartz smiles. Her makeup, I notice, has been ruined by the water and perspiration coating her, and is running down her face. Her ballgown has been soaked and is wilting away in the humid air. But she’s smiling.

She turns her back to me and takes a few paces away before halting one last time. “You are truly the epitome of what a prince should be, highness. I salute your selfless dedication to the happiness of others.” She turns around and gives me a long, deep bow. I still don’t feel up to saying anything.

There is silence for several more seconds as she prostrates herself on the floor before me. Eventually, she rises to her hooves, turns yet again, and walks back on the path out of the gardens.

I know what I have to do now. Cadence… mi amore… if I must break your heart for a time to give you what you deserve for all eternity, I will. You will mend, I am sure. You are strong, you are an alicorn. You deserve to flourish, not tie yourself down with a pathetic remnant of a failed guardian like me. You’ve given me everything I could have wanted from a marriage and more, but I cannot give the same to you.

As my thoughts of what I must do and how to do it consume me, I only half-notice another sound. Lady Rose Quartz is far away now, almost to the exit, but I could swear that I hear a faint hint of a noise from her.

It sounds like giggling.

I dismiss the noise and the noble from my mind. They aren’t important.


Cadence

Ok, I am beginning to get worried now. Shiny takes breaks from social events, especially ones with a lot of foreigners. He’s been doing that for hundreds of years, ever since he reached old age and found it physically difficult to stand such things. I make accommodations for him. How can I not after what sacrifices he made for me?

But even Shining isn’t normally prone to wandering off from a ball and not turning up again for hours. I scan the room again. I can see Twilight – who’s finally mastered the art of high-class dancing, if you were interested – Auntie Luna, Auntie Celestia, cousins Blueblood, many of my nobility, countless delegates… Tartarus, even Spike is here, albeit not engaging in a lot of dancing. But my husband isn’t around. That’s not normal.

I excuse myself from my conversation with a Saddle Arabian mare and take another look around the room, making sure not to miss anything. Nothing.

I cast a spell, just to make absolutely sure. No, Shining is not in this room, nor in its immediate vicinity.

A small spike of fear wedges its way in. What if something’s gone wrong? What if Shiny’s hurt? Is something going on? My ever-dutiful husband never abandons me for this long without explaining something first. Am I just being paranoid?

Well, better safe than sorry, when it comes to affairs like this. I’m sure I’ll find him asleep in our bed or somesuch. I’m probably just jumping at shadows, but I choose to do so anyway.

I slip quietly out of the ballroom and begin the trek to our private chambers. They’re where Shiny likes to go just to get away for a while. Well, that and our gardens, but I hope he wouldn’t ruin his nice uniform jacket by prancing about in those things tonight. He knows how much it irks our poor tailor if his clothes get damaged.

The guards salute me as I pass by. I smile back at them, but hurry on my way up the stairs and through the winding crystalline corridors that lead back to our upper-floor rooms. I break into a light trot as I near the door, before throwing it open with somewhat undue haste and looking inside.

My heart sinks slightly. There’s nopony here. Nopony at all… wait.

Out of the corner of my I eye I spy something misty coming from one of the walls. I turn my head to observe it. It takes a shape. My eyes become dinner plates. My jaw drops. This is the last thing I wanted or expected to see.

“Sombra.”

Author's Note:

Dun dun dun...