Interrupted Cadance, Finale
“You sure about that, Dillon?” Trixie asked as she held the phone in her hoof. “Okay, thanks – I owe ya one.” Hanging up the phone, the stage unicorn turned to her friend and said, “Suit up. Just got confirmation as to where her highness is.”
“You found Cadance?” Twilight leapt from the couch where she’d been lying down. While it had been good, admittedly, to just relax and waste away the worries and whiles with an old friend, with Trixie’s pronouncement, the fears and concerns rushed back in. A part of Twilight’s guilt kicked in at that point: for a moment, she’d been so relaxed, she’d completely forgotten about Cadance’s situation and focused on her own relaxation.
“Yeah,” Trixie answered, who had rushed over to her kitchen table to grab her car keys. “One of my stagehands, Stacey, has a boyfriend, Dillon, who I met at the company picnic back in May. Dillon’s a trauma care nurse over at St. Rose’s, a hospital a few miles down the road, and they said they just brought in someone from Boulder City Hospital for ICU. Anyway, he sounded a little confused, but it sounded like the match Cadance is using for her amniomorphic.”
Twilight was already on her feet, recasting the amniomorphic. A second later, she changed her mind and cast a different spell, retailoring the human clothing she wore for her natural pony body. She wobbled a bit as she readjusted to walking on her hind legs, something that she never completely got the hang of in her normal form.
“Are you sure about this?” Trixie asked, obviously referring to Twilight’s decision to stay in her natural form. “I thought that secrecy was of the utmost.”
“If Cadance got hurt, I might need all my power to heal her, and I can’t afford to waste any on the amniomorphic,” Twilight insisted.
“There’s also the chance that Dillon could be wrong. He’s a smart guy, but he sounded confused and…well, let’s be honest, a trauma care nurse is already bombarded by a bunch of things.”
“Give me coordinates and I’ll teleport us,” Twilight said, as her posture became one of aggression, an emotion not typically found in the pony body language.
“Oh no you’re not – you’ll spook enough people as is, Twi. You call Spike and tell him to meet us there. Have him look for my car; we’ll park by the Emergency Room. And please calm down – I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this.”
“Lady, you’re cray-cray, you know that?” Mackie told Cadance as she went over to the Administration desk and paid for all of Tillie’s medical bills.
The redhead shrugged. “I can pay for it. Look, I was in Milwaukee a couple of years ago and I know that not everyone has the same level of healthcare that I do and so I’m offering to assist.”
“Uh, for one, Grandma’s healthcare is taken care of already by her retirement plan from her old job. And two, who just casually pays for expensive medical treatment on a black American Express card?”
“Um…me, I guess,” she responded, not sure how to answer that. True, when they were issued the cards they tied directly into their personal accounts and the credit card company was more than willing, given the circumstances, to issue the cards in the false identities, but was there something odd about the card that she pulled out? She picked it back up, looking at it. “Well, it’s not expired, so…what’s the problem again?”
Mackie threw his hands up in frustration. “Women, I swear. Never gonna understand these bitche—”
“Okay, Mackie, that’s enough.” Standing at the door was Rodger, who looked like he’d just bolted from the parking lot. “You’ll have to excuse him, miss – he’s understandably worried about his grandmother, my aunt. And we do appreciate the offer, but Aunt Tillie’s care is well taken care of, so it’s not necessary.”
“I see….” Cadance said, still not completely sure if she shouldn’t. But the man she looked at the moment gave a soft nod, so Cadance retrieved the card, much to the relief of the hospital cashier, who had never seen that level of credit in her life and was having near-apoplectic fits at having such a treasure in her hands. “So, if I may ask, what’s wrong with Tillie?”
“Let’s let these fine folks do their job and I’ll tell you on the way to her room. I understand they have her stabilized now.” Rodger gestured to the door, and both Mackie and Cadance followed. As the trio moved on, Rodger spoke. “For some time now, Aunt Tillie’s had somewhat of a bad ticker. She had a really bad stroke a few years ago, and she’s gotten better since, but….” He looked down at the floor, sighing. “Sometimes, when you get old, you wear your mind out before your body – but with Aunt Tillie, it happened the other way around. She’s like one of those rock stars from the sixties that lived on far longer than any soul ever had a right to, but we thank God that she did. But someday – and it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s someday soon – she’ll be gone from our lives.”
“I see.” Cadance’s mouth was a tight line as the guilt sank in. She was dealing with a woman who was at the end of her life, and all Cadance did was to step into that life and give her more pain and grief. That was the last thing in the world the romance alicorn wanted – would ever want to do – but she went and did it regardless.
“Now don’t hold yourself responsible, miss,” Rodger said, looking at the distraught young woman standing there. “Aunt Tillie’s tough, and she’ll probably make it through this. Wouldn’t be the first time she’s done something like that. And even if she doesn’t…none of that is your fault. Aunt Tillie would rather pass on knowing she helped a gal like you with your problem than to not do a single thing about it and walk on by. It’s just the kind of woman she is.”
“May I see her?” Cadance asked. She didn’t know if she had the right, but there was something about the woman that she’d felt a kinship with in the past few hours that made the alicorn need to see this through – whatever it was. If she didn’t, a part of her knew that this was going to be a far bigger regret than anything she’d ever dealt with before or since.
The group was silent on the elevator ride up to her room. What could they say? The trio didn’t know about each other and they’d never asked anything about her. In fact, the only thing they had in common was Tillie. So Cadance started there. “Mackie, right?” she asked the younger man.
“Yes’m,” he said, not at all the boisterous youth he’d been when she’d first met him earlier today.
“So you said you were going to college in the fall?”
“Well….” The kid sighed. “The fact is that I was going to go to USC to study medicine, but my scholarship dried up, and now I’m screwed.”
“Dried up?” Cadance wasn’t familiar with the term, but the tone didn’t sound good.
“It’s nothing…don’t worry about it, miss,” he answered.
“Cadance. Just call me Cadance,” she replied.
“Will do,” Rodger said. “As for me and Maria, we promised my mom that we’d watch out for Aunt Tillie, since we’re the only ones who live nearby. It’s just that…well, it hasn’t been easy, but we’re glad that Aunt Tillie’s held on this long. My oldest kid is graduating from high school this year and Maria and I are hoping Aunt Tillie will be around to see it.”
“I’ll make sure she is,” Cadance promised. When the two men looked at her strangely, she smiled softly and said, “Trust me, it might sound odd, but I have a few, uh, strings I can pull in. Trust me, she’ll be fine.”
Mackie looked at the beautiful redhead standing there, so sure of herself at a time when the situation would weaken anyone, and he just shook his head in confusion. “Just friggin’ cray-cray,” he muttered to himself.
The trio had just arrived at the door to Tillie’s room when a nurse standing nearby said, “She’d like to see you first, miss.” When Rodger and Mackie both gasped in surprise, the nurse shrugged and added, “It’s what the lady asked for, and we’ve stabilized her, so I don’t see the issue with it. Are you a member of the family, miss?”
Cadance shook her head. “Just met her yesterday, truth be told.”
“And yet she asked for you. Interesting.” She then turned back to Rodger and said, “In any case, Dr. Goodell should be here in any moment. He’d like to speak with you, as you are the decision maker for the family, I take it?” Rodger nodded a simple yes; he wasn’t sure what else he could say at the moment.
“Uh, should I go in then?” she asked the two men. “I don’t want to intrude.”
“Go ahead. I don’t and can’t imagine why she’d want to see you instead of us – no offense meant,” Rodger added, as to not slight the younger woman. “Maybe it’s just something that she feels she needs to ask another woman instead of us. Besides, I have to talk to the doctor, and while Mackie might act like some young turk, I can promise you that he’s very broken up about this. So you’d be doing me a favor, at least until I can get a hold of my wife.”
“In that case, I’d be honored to,” Cadance said sincerely as she went to the door. She didn’t know why Tillie wanted to see her while she was in this frail state, but Cadance had a few tricks she could still pull up her sleeves. After all, it was only a couple of years ago that she had been on that goodwill trip around the country. She’d ended up doing it with just a small entourage, as she wanted to return back to her native world and her husband as soon as she could, but the trip had turned out to be a boon for those she’d been able to assist and a balm to her weary heart.
Part of her wanted to go back to that time, back when Shining Armor was still alive and she could take him in her arms and never let him go. But even then he was starting to feel the molecular-level destruction of Chrysalis’ poison that would eventually claim his life. Had he gone on that trip, she would have had him by her side…but it would have cost her the overall time extra time she’d had with him. The life of a royal was stressful as it was, and having a schedule like hers while ill would tax the best pony’s health.
Opening the door, she started to prepare a spell. She couldn’t keep Tillie alive forever – but maybe keeping her around for a few more years wouldn’t be so bad, right?
The moment they arrived at the hospital, Dillon was outside, having a smoke and waiting for Trixie. “Yeah, I know: I really need to ditch this habit,” he said, dumping the stub in the ashcan. “Stacey says the habit’s gonna kill me someday.”
“I’m not here to lecture you, Dillon,” Trixie said. At the moment, she stood between the human and the other unicorn, as Twilight practically vibrated with nervous energy. “I figure that’s what you have a girlfriend for. Anyways, thanks for the help. What can you tell us?”
“Don’t thank me, thank Drake. He and I chatted over breakfast this morning and he told me everything. Anyhoo, old woman was brought in about an hour ago from Boulder City. Three people with her: one man, one kid – probably a teenager – and one woman. She’s a redhead fitting the description; the rest of them, including the old woman, are black. They’re up in ICU right now. I can get you up there, but it’s going to have to take a bit to make sure that it’s kosher – we’ve got some NIH folks inspecting the hospital and so the administration’s in lockdown mode, if you get my drift.”
Twilight ignored all of what the man had just said and instead fixed her violet eyes on him. “Is she okay? What can you tell me? Please, I need to know!”
“Twilight, please – Dillon’s doing the best he can regarding the situation.”
“Friend of yours?” he asked.
“Sometimes to the point of regret, yes, but a very good friend nonetheless,” Trixie drawled before turning around and giving Twilight a dark stare. “She’s just worried about her sister-in-law,” Trixie continued.
“Um, sorry if this sounds odd, but…we don’t have any aliens – ponies or otherwise – that are here at the hospital recently, unless that redhead....” His mind short-circuited for a second before he asked the impossible: “Did she marry a pony? And here I thought that would’ve made the news, even here in Vegas.”
“Long story, Dillon,” Trixie said, feeling a headache building again. “Long, long story.”
From the moment she stepped into the room, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza felt a primal fear course through her the moment the smell of a hospital room wafted into her nostrils. From the few times she’d been in medical clinics when she was younger, she was used to the smell of a doctor’s office being one of lilacs and vanilla, of flowers and cinnamon, a combination of aromas meant to put already-skittish ponies at ease. But the assault of a human medical center was much different to her: powerful, alien odors that felt more akin to some of the more noxious chemicals that mages used in their spells as opposed to anything hinting at tender care and healing, but like so many other things human, it was a study in contrasts.
Cadance’s instinct told her to change into her natural form and cast a spell to counteract the stench within the room, but, with some effort, the romance alicorn brushed the instinct aside and remained in her human disguise while her spell sat at the ready. She’d already poured too much power into it in order to simply dissipate it without cost; if she were to change to her native form, she’d have to rest, recharge and then bring the spell to play again. In many ways, she envied Twilight: for all the “vaunted and infinite” power of an alicorn, only her aunts were of real mystic force. The only truth in Cadance’s avatar status was her form and her immortality; to the pink alicorn’s pride, her sister-in-law had well outstripped her in power and prowess long ago.
But none of that was important right now. Instead, she focused on the still form in the bed, a woman of remarkable life…that was drawing to a close, and for that, Cadance couldn’t help but feel a deep sorrow. In the very little time that she’d known Tillie, the woman had made a grand impact on her life. The alicorn of love felt a maternal tug towards the aged human in a way she’d never felt towards her own mother, who had dumped her nigh-unceremoniously in Canterlot; Celestia, the aunt had raised her and was more a mother to her than Quiet Solitude had ever been; Cozy Hearth, Cadance’s governess, who had been there for her since the very beginning; or even Twilight Velvet, who had adored Cadance since the first day they met and considered the alicorn just as much a daughter as her own flesh and blood. The four, all different facets in her life, all varying degrees of maternal care for Cadance, and yet it was this almost stranger that stirred those feelings in her.
Cadance sat down in the chair next to Tillie and wordlessly took the woman’s hand in her own, not knowing what to say. The tears came before she could even think to ask why.
“Shouldn’t cry,” a voice barely above a whisper spoke. “Not good for a gal’s complexion, you know. Especially when you’ve got so much to live for, Cadance.” The redhead looked up and there, looking at her through weakened but somehow still vital eyes, was Tillie. Even though she was breathing through a mask and hooked up to a series of machines, she seemed alive and hale, as if everything here was just a minor inconvenience that would be done with in just a second.
Cadance let go of Tillie’s hand and lifted her own; in it sat a pulsing ball of rosy light. “I’ll be honest, Tillie,” Cadance began. “While I can’t make you immortal, I can extend things. I can remove some of the dama—”
“Don’t want it,” the woman said weakly, though a soft smile was on her face. “All it would be doing is prolonging the pain, and not just mine – I know Mackie’s out there trying not to cry, and I know Rodger’s out there right now not sure as to what he should do. I know that my children are worried and are probably on the next flights here, Cadance. That’s a whole lot of pain for just one person, and I can’t do it.”
“But they need you, Tillie. So many people need you. Heck, I just met you and I need you,” Cadance admitted.
Tillie chuckled. “Not every day when a person says that they’re needed by an alien princess from another dimension – at least not outside of those videogames that Mackie plays.”
“Then let me help, Tillie! Let me—”
The old woman struggled to sit up on her bed. “No, Cadance. I know what you’re thinking and it’s…well, I’d be a liar if I didn’t say I wasn’t supremely honored for the gesture you’re making. And I see in your eyes that it’s taking a lot out of you to maintain that…whatever it is you have planned. But I cannot accept it!”
“Please!” Cadance said, her voice barely above a whisper itself but still filled with resolve. “Please let me help you.”
“No, and seeing that look in your eyes – that’s the worst reason why. And I will not have my death be on your conscience, young lady,” Tillie said with finality. “I know why you want to save me, and it’s clear as the sky, Cadance, even if you can’t see it right now. You don’t want to save me because I mean something to you – and I know I do, that’s not what I mean. But,” she said, reaching out with her hand to point at Cadance’s heart – or where her heart was while she was in her human form, “you want to save me…because you feel guilty for not saving your husband.”
Cadance’s became aghast at the suggestion and was about to comment, when the nurse poked her head into the room. “Visiting time’s over in ten minutes, and I’m sure that she’d like to see the rest of her family, miss.”
“I understand,” Cadance said to the nurse. As the door shut, Cadance reached out with a second spell. The door knob glowed a bright blue, then the magic aura faded away to nothing, though the spell remained; while it was in force, no one on the other side would notice said entryway until the spell was cancelled. “That should give us any extra time we need.”
“Now I’ve seen magic is real,” Tillie voiced, her eyes full of wonder for a second, but hardening once more as she then added, “Even still, I cannot accept your gift, Cadance. My time is coming – just like it is for all of us eventually – and I won’t be a pain to my family anymore…and I don’t want to be your instrument of guilt.”
“I don’t understand,” Cadance replied, even though her eyes said differently.
With what appeared to be a feat of strength for her, Tillie took Cadance’s open palm, still holding the ball of magic, then gently closed it, dissipating the spell. “It is time for me to be with my Emmett. And I know that someday you and your love will be reunited. It might not be tomorrow, or the next year, but there will come a day when you will feel him in your presence one day, Cadance, and you need to be prepared for that.”
“I’ll never see him again,” Cadance sobbed. “I’m…I’m immortal. Alicorns live forever. He’s in the Great Pasture, in a place that even my aunt Celestia has no power in. I’ll never feel his touch, never feel his forelegs holding me again.”
“You will,” Tillie promised. “As God is my witness, Cadance, you will. Maybe it’ll be in the way the sun shines, reminding you of his smile. Or maybe it’ll be in a dream, when he’s there to tell you he loves you forever. But he’s there, Cadance. What I said before is still true: so long as he’s in your heart, he will live on. So long as he lives in you: he will be just as eternal as you.” A wry grin slid onto her face as she added, “That demon only took his body, Cadance. She didn’t take the most important thing – his love for you. So long as you have that, he’s won.”
The romance alicorn blinked once, twice, thrice as something lit in her eyes: realization. So long as I have my memories of Shiny, he’ll never leave me, she recited in her mind. Is it really as easy as that?
It is, Cady, a voice in her head said, unbidden. It always is. She knew the voice, knew it as well as her own. And right now, she didn’t know if she imagined it or if they were words from beyond the Great Pasture – and it didn’t matter. She felt, just for a moment, the warm touch of a stallion once again, caught the scent of the cologne he used. And in that brief instance, the alicorn so used to mystic forces and eldritch power seemed to understand what magic – a magic that was her dominion yet something she’d never experienced herself before – was.
You finally understand, the look in Tillie’s eyes, said, though she said not a word. Cadance, in turn, looked at her with tearstained, but grateful eyes, and nodded slightly, her own eyes still reflecting the wonder of the emotions she was feeling.
“I think it’s time for you to go,” Tillie said softly. “You’re stronger now, and you understand. Shoulder the burden for others.”
“It is my duty,” she said as she shifted to her true form, the alicorn now standing in the room. “It is ever my duty, but as my aunt would say, ‘Even the wise have much to learn’, and I cannot thank you enough for this lesson, Tillie.”
“Don’t think of it as a lesson, Cadance. Think of it…as something you already knew, but just needed a little refresher.” Tillie winked and said, “Now get going. You have a family to talk to, and I have a family of my own to take care of. Take care, girl.”
Cadance nodded as she resumed her human form once more. “Will do,” the redhead said with a wide smile and tears of joy in her eyes. Then, opening the door and cancelling the spell she’d placed on it, she left.
“Cadance?” The moment Twilight stepped onto the fourth floor, she saw the redhead standing there, and it looked like she’d been through a lot. Whether that lot was good or not, the unicorn had no way of knowing.
“Twily?” Cadance noticed that Twilight was out of her disguise, running around in her normal form, but before she could ask, she was glomped by the younger mare, held fast as the unicorn hugged her tight. “I’m okay, Twily,” Cadance said as she returned the embrace, ignoring the stares the pair was getting at the moment. “I’m sorry I worried you.”
“Don’t do that again!” The look on Twilight’s face was somewhere between angry and terrified. “Do you know how much Spike and I worried about you?”
“Enough so that next time, please make it a vacation, okay?” a voice behind Cadance said. The redhead turned and found Trixie standing there, smiling softly. “Hello, your highn—”
“Hello, Ms. Lulamoon,” Cadance cut in. She didn’t want her secret revealed; things were already weird as is. “Sorry for the bother and thanks for helping Twilight.”
“She’s my friend. Dear Celestia on Her throne, Twi’s a pain but she’s my friend,” was Trixie’s only answer as Cadance turned back to embrace her sister-in-law, the two females letting the anxiety of the moment slip away.
Rodger looked as the redhead seemed to hug one alien tightly, chatting with another. He recognized the second one – Trixie Lulamoon, a magician at the Venetian. He’d caught her show one night; it was outstanding. But that didn’t explain why she was here…or how she was tied to that redhead, for that matter.
Mackie just looked at him and shook his head. “Don’t wanna know, don’t needta know,” the teen replied. “C’mon – let’s go see Grandma.”
It was a few days later when Cadance found herself at the gravesite of her husband and his family. Setting down the flowers by the grave, the romance alicorn could feel the gaze of her aunt Luna, who had accompanied her, but had moved away to give the younger princess the time to do what she needed to. It was a blustery afternoon in Equestria and the winds were whipping at the cemetery, but rather than having the local weather teams disperse them, Cadance requested that they be left as is. Somehow, she felt it was fitting.
“Shiny,” she said to the tombstone as she released the telekinetic grasp from the bouquet, “it’s been hard without you. And it won’t get any easier throughout the decades. These last six months…they’ve nearly torn me apart, made me go insane trying to find out how I could join you in death. But I had a revelation last week, given to me by someone who passed away two days ago. Life is meant to be lived by those who remain behind, because it’s our job to remember who was here once.
“Chrysalis is still out there somewhere, probably gloating over your death. I can’t let that happen anymore. While I can’t beat her – and someday, we will, I promise you that – I will do what I can to deny her even the smallest amount of victory.” Raising a hoof to her heart, she said, “So long as you live here with me, she’ll never win. She’ll never take you from me, love.
“It’s funny: I’m supposed to be the expert on love, the very embodiment of it. But I didn’t learn an important piece of the puzzle until a friend showed me. And now I’m more complete for it, and now I realize I’ll always have you.” She reached forward, touching her horn on the marble tombstone, feeling the cool touch of the stone on her horn. “I will always be your wife, Shiny. I will always be your true love.”
The alicorn spent several more minutes at the grave before finally turning back and walking down to the area where Luna waited for her. “Thanks for waiting, Luna,” she said. “I appreciate it.”
“I’m glad I could be here for you,” the night alicorn said, nuzzling her niece. “I’m always here to help you – my ministrations aren’t limited to just dreams, you know.”
“I know, and this is something I needed a different perspective on that neither you nor Celestia could provide,” she explained. “Just as Twily needed Trixie to help her understand that everything that’s happened wasn’t her fault, I needed someone else to explain to me what I should have already known. And I’m forever grateful for that help, even though I still wish I could have convinced her to accept the healing magic.”
“Sometimes things must happen for something else to happen,” Luna replied. “If I hadn’t been possessed by Nightmare Moon, my sister and I might never have reconciled, or Twilight and the others might not have come into our lives or a million other things, but the truth is that things happen for a reason. Mourn your friend’s passing, but know that there’s probably some good that can come from it.”
Cadance nodded. “And I think I know how I can do that.”
Mackie sat in the house that he used to share with his grandmother, alone. In a few days, his mother, father and siblings would return back to Germany, secure in the fact that Mackie was going to college in LA because of his scholarship – a scholarship that was now gone. Rodger and Maria had promised to keep quiet about that, but sooner or later, he was going to have to tell the truth to his mama and find some way to keep on. Maybe he’d join the military, or the Peace Corps or something to bide the time until he could save up to go to community college. He was serious about getting his medical degree, no matter how long it took – he owed it to his Grandma.
As he got up and went to the kitchen, he saw Rodger going through the mail. “Most of it’s bills, and Maria and I can take care of that, Mackie,” his cousin told him. “Look, as long as you don’t party up the house, you can stay here. Aunt Tillie paid it off long ago, and your mom and your uncle technically own it now, so I don’t think they’ll complain about family still using it.”
“Yeah, whatever,” he told his cousin. Right now he didn’t care about any of that. What he’d wished for, if anything, was a way to make his dream come true, so that no one would ever suffer the pains that his grandmother did in her last days. Thankfully that weird-ass redhead was here to bring a smile to Grandma in the end, Mackie thought with a smile.
“Oh, hey, letter for you,” Rodger said, looking at the envelope. “Office of the Princess Royal of Equestria.” He looked at that again. “Da heck? You know what this is about?”
“Beats me,” the teen said, taking the letter. “Think it has to do with that redhead that was with the aliens?” he asked, wondering if that was the case.
“You’re the one who got the letter,” Rodger replied. “You tell me.”
Nodding, Mackie opened the letter, pulling out the official looking letterhead and reading:
OFFICE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL
OFFICE OF THE FOREIGN MINISTER
FOREIGN MINISTRY, EQUESTRIAMacarthur Farrell
3789 Brooksby Lane
Boulder City, Nevada 89006
United States of America
Human-EarthDear Mr. Farrell, it is our pleasure to announce that you have been accepted into our “Bright Minds” program, developed specifically to enhance bright young minds on both worlds. The scholarship will be provided by the Foreign Ministry of Equestria and will be good for all costs and fees for any four-year institution that you may attend on either Earth.
Please fill out the attached forms and mail them in the enclosed envelope to our nearest consulate (in your case, Los Angeles) so that way we may begin to process your application soonest and begin your well-earned tutelage.Congratulations!
Sincerely,
- Lotsa Luck,
on behalf of HSH Mi Amore Cadenza
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Beautiful ending.
Made me cry
But I loved it all the same.
Wonder how long it takes Mackie to figure out that the redhead is Cadence. I mean obviously he will, or she wouldn't really be able to justify the scholarship...
aaa This is a thing I didn't know existed!
Gonna get on this!
3334479
I think the last line of the chapter should lead him in the right direction:
3334748
well, yeah. That's what inspired my comment.
but remember, in this setting, he probably doesn't know that HSH Mi Amore Cadenza is known as Cadence to her freinds. it may not even be common knowledge amongst ponies.
Can Cadance apply herself to become more powerful or is she stuck at this level?
Otherwise an enjoyable story.
3335068
She probably could, but she has no motivation to do so, and losing Shining Armor probably didn't help. Now that she's got a son, that might change.
I kind of needed these updates. While it may not be the same as a spouse, my beloved dog of 11 years died recently and I've been pretty broken up. Thank you for the inadvertent help.
As usual, a good story; waiting for the next one...
3387274 not so much an inconsistency as an effective threat.
3402922
Um...you do know that transparent aluminum actually exists now, right?
3405031
I didn't feel it was conducive towards the story to have a flashback to the funeral and Shining's death, as it's on an outline of potential future BH stories. This was more about having Cadance learn to understand what's happened.
As to how Shining was seduced by Chrysalis...you did watch the season two ending eps, right?
Sad yet heart-warming side-story. Yet another great piece of writing.
I'd assume there is a way for an Alicorn to die, however Celestia hid it back before NMM. I say this because if they were truly unable to die, then by now Celestia and Luna would have just tanked through any threat to Equestria because they couldn't die by any means.
3402944
*Long slow blink* Huh. Always wondered what bullet proof glass was made of... I'd call this a case of Star Trek predicting the future, but the patent predates the movie.