Soft Lips and Hard Vows

by kalash93

Love Flies Away

Chapter 2

Cadance awoke to the feeling of someponyone shifting beside her. She held him and yawned sleepily. He was warm and smelled good. The prior night's events drifted back into her head. Warmth, then heat. Passion. A pressure, delight, and thenthem something hot pumping in between her legs before she drifted off with her mind blanked. Without looking at him, she kissed Shining Armor deep on the mouth, playing into his with tongue.

She was in heaven. Time had become an illusion as every day from start to finish was just packed with love and delight, from early morning cuddles, to mid afternoon kisses, to late night cries and shudders. Every day, she had gotten up ahead of him, still in the dark, to make breakfast. Crack some eggs, fry some bread in butter, and fluff the yogurt with a flourish of fruit syrup to it all. Then, go back and wake up her dear husband, who sometimes wasn't entirely loved out from the night before. Sometimes, the breakfast was cold before they got to it. Cadance liked those mornings the best.

Best two weeks of her life, ever.

The princess had forgotten what it was like to be alone, the feeling of cold air and dead objects being the only things against her fur, to speak out to the void and hear nothing back.

Even so, on some desolate and dark mornings, where, despite the summer's warmth, a chill would creep over her again like a spider creeping up on her, a sense of wrongness before the first leg so deliberately froze to her awareness. And like a spider, when she banished it, she never knew where it was, just that it was watching her, ready to descend onto her without warning again. And, like a spider, it left webs everywhere that she would stumble into to remind her of its lurking presence, even though she didn't know where it was, only that it was still there.

"Morning, Cady..." Shining yawned at her, sending her fears skittering back into some dark corner.

"Shi..." Cadance mumbled back, gathering him up in her legs and hugging close to him. She kissed him. Warmth met her, but the warmth was short lived. Shining Armor got out of bed. “Where are you going?”

“Yakyakistan,” he said, “I’m being deployed.”

Cadence blinked. “What time is it? At least let me get breakfast with you.”

“It’s four. Wheels up at six thirty. Sorry, my love, I’m running late as it is.” He kissed her. She did not feel the warmth this time.

“But we just got back from the Mild West, when you said you had to go right back to work, I didn’t think right away right away. She reached out to him, but he ignored her, yanking his duffel out from the closet and magically hurling neatly folded uniforms into it.”

He didn’t answer her, she knew that meant there was no point in talking. “Can I at least come with you to the departure?”

“Of course, Darling!” Fabric pelted Cadance in the face as one of Shining’s morale shirts hurtled across the room, followed shortly thereafter by a pair of his jeans. The perks of marrying someone the same height. The text read ‘14TH CANTERLOT GUARD - THE ROYAL PAINS!’ while the olive green field showed a snarling stallion with a halberd in his curled grasp and a sabre in his teeth.

Since Shining was still packing, Cadence leapt into the kitchen, set the burner, and magically readied several eggs with tomato chunks and bell peppers from the fridge. She had to race against time, and so induced magnetism to heat the iron skillet. She painted it with the stick of butter levitated over its surface and hurled in the ingredients. After just a couple minutes, the eggs and ingredients had solidified, and she whisked them away onto a plate, just in time for Shining Armor to come out of the bedroom in uniform with his gear.

“Eat this!”

“There’ll be food at the mess and on the plane,” Shining huffed.”

Cadence stood up taller than him and commanded, “You will obey your princess, you will eat the last good delicious homecooked meal your wife will make for you for the foreseeable future, and you will like it!”

“Okay, okay,” Shining acquiesced, grabbing the omlette in his own magic and chowing down on it.

Cadence watched raptly. She nuzzled him, purring, “Good stallion, I just love taking care of you.”

He laughed, “That you do. I love you, Cadence.”

They walked fast to the royal garage and Cadance got into the driver seat. Shining would have tried to drive, but Cadance got there first and scolded him about multitasking. They got to the airbase with plenty of time. As Cadance drew up to security, she got that sinking feeling in her stomach. She glanced at her husband, trying to remember his features, trying to sculpt them into her brain for when he wasn’t there.

Security cleared them too quickly, the downsides to being a princess holding onto fleeting time. Soon she was at the drop off, looking him in the eye one last time.

“I don’t want you to go, Shiny.”

“I know, Cady, but I have to.”

She hugged him. “When will I see you again?”

“In six months,” he said, “it won’t be that long. And I’ll put in for a domestic duty post.”

“But I need you now,” she cried, clutching him tighter. “Chrysalis was just two weeks ago. I’m still fragile from that.”

Shining looked down at her, his expression softening. “I know and I’m sorry. I wish I could stay, but I can’t.”

A piece of hope died within Cadance. Shining could be downright indulgent of her, like with the omlette that morning; she knew he’d be in trouble for being late because of it, but he sat down and ate it because he loved her and the care she took of him. But Shining had just told her he would not stay for her. When he was so absolute, she could never change his mind. Not with tears, not with threats, not even with promises of pleasures. She had lost her internal war as she saw him off to battle.

“I know, I’m sorry for trying to make you.”

“It’s okay, I love you,” Shiny said as he kissed her. And then he got out of the car and joined his unit.

Cadence went and parked and cried until it was time to go to the airstrip. She had to reapply some makeup to hide the fact she had been crying. It wouldn’t do to see a princess of Equestria looking with anything but pride upon her nation’s bravest and strongest off to do their duty on her behalf.

She was so glad this wasn’t an official function.

Princess Cadance saw the hulking grey metal tube that would be taking her husband away from her. She glared at it, even as it glared right back angrily in the unbearably fierce morning sun. The troops were all there on the runway, bags at their hooves, standing at attention while some high ranking guardspony gave a canned speech about duty, valor, and sacrifice. He droned on in that angrily clipped military way of speaking Cadance had become overly familiar with in her years near the guard, both dealing with her own guards, and from her contacts with it through Shining Armor. She found herself losing focus. The words lost all meaning besides how she translated them into normal Ponish, which was ‘Enjoy being lonely for half a year!’ It was repeated brashly over and over again.

And just when the mare didn’t think she could stomach another word, it stopped. The stallions and mares in uniform hefted their bags and boarded the gullet of the plane, waving jauntily to the crowd. Cadence waved at Shining, easily visible being the tallest mare there and blew him a kiss. She saw him blush from the eighty yards distance and had to content herself with that. She stood still as the plane’s engines roared to life and it taxied. And then it gained speed, roaring like a mighty dragon as it took off, and then into the air.

The plane, with her husband on it, was growing more distant and smaller by the second, and soon was inscrutable, even to an alicorn’s superior senses. Cadence gave one last feeble wave in its vague direction and her hoof dropped to the ground.

Cadance tried to go home, but perked up at a familiar masculine voice. “Cadance! Is that you?” She raised her hanging head to see Night Light and Twilight Velvet a few rows over, beckoning to her. She waved back in acknowledgement and made her way over to them.

She soon was by her friendly in-laws. “Night, Velvet, good to see you.” She grinned wryly.

Night Light put a hoof on her shoulder. “How are you?”

“Fine, er, thanks,” Cadence answered. “I was just going to go home now.” She in reality would rather be anywhere else than trying to maintain a fake smile in public.

Twilight Velvet said, “Let us take you to breakfast, first. You just got in last night, surely you haven’t eaten at all. Besides, we haven’t seen you, Cady, since the wedding. Let us treat you.”

Cadence wanted to refuse, but the ache in her tummy gave her pause. And before she knew what was happening, Night Light’s strong hoof at her croup had her following along like she was a tween filly getting the grand tour of the house all those years ago.

The three of them sat down at a table under some trendy colored lights with abstract molded glass decor. Cadence had never been to this cafe before. It wasn’t really her thing, she preferred a more traditional design, good old wooden chairs, wooden tables, incandescent lights, and decorations heavily themed around coffee. This place must have been new, it looked more like an image from a computer, a dream of the future, rather than a cozy coffee house out of the past. And as if to complete the image of modern sophistication, the menu was accessible by a scannable bar code for their phones instead of drawn on the headboards in chalk. It felt odd, foreign, but a little exciting. Not a place she’d’ve picked at first glance, but it felt like a good thing.

The drinks were all there soon. Night went with some exotic coffee blend. Velvet had gotten a cappuccino. And as for Cadance, lady’s classic comforter, something sweet and chocolatey.

Twilight Velvet initiated conversation. “So, Cadance, how was the honeymoon?”

The princess blushed. “We kinda didn’t do much.”

She caught Night Light’s repressed grin. How could he not know?

Velvet came to her rescue. “Just a nice cozy time together?”

“I suppose, very comfortable.”

“Tell me all about it, and I do mean all about it.

Cadence took a deep gulp of her burning hot drink to wet her mouth. “Well, the train ride over was nice. Shining got in trouble for trying to bring his sabre along, but the railroad refused to allow it. We had a first class wagon all to ourselves. We got to see the sunrise over the Great Mustangian Prairie on our way out while they served us breakfast in the sleeper.”

“How romantic,” said Velvet.

“Totally. We got off at Dodge Junction at half past noon, and it was a few hours of walking to get to our hacienda rental. The landlord, a very nice buffalo, left us a bottle of fantastic yucca wine that of course didn’t survive the first night.” Cadance felt it, she was smiling again, looking into Velvet’s eyes. Her troubles suddenly felt so much less, staring into those kindly welcoming eyes; her husband’s deployment, her own tiredness, even the lingering fear of Chrysalis felt distant so long as she was staring at Velvet’s tender face, just talking to her.

Cadance blushed and tried to hide her expression shyly. “What’s wrong?” Night and Velvet asked together.”

“Nothing, nothing,” Cadance giggled, meeting Velvet’s eyes once again. Night Light shoved some cookies her way she accepted gratefully, still waiting on their entrees, but what she really wanted was to keep talking to Velvet.

Their sandwiches arrived and the conversation was interrupted by the sounds of eating. The sounds of eating presently gave way to joking and laughter between the three of them as the plates became empty apart from remnant crumbs. They eventually were slowly sipping the cool remains of their coffees, nibbling on remaining bread crusts and cookies, keeping the good time going for just a little longer.

Night Light got up to use the bathroom, leaving Cadance and Velvet alone.

Velvet asked, “Feeling better now?”

Cadance nodded and answered, “Definitely, yes, thanks.”

“Night and I know how it is, when he goes off like this. We miss him, too.”

Cadance said, “It really never gets any easier.”

“It doesn’t, at least not alone, but you don’t have to put up with it alone, Cady, you have us – Night Light and I, and Twilight, and Luna, and Celestia.”

Cadance laughed, “How much spare time do you think we princesses have? My stay at Canterlot had to be arranged months in advance, and even then, it was still too short notice to rearrange Luna’s duties for her to attend my wedding.”

Velvet looked pensively at her hooves. She sucked it. “It really is lonely at the top, isn’t it?”

“You… have no idea… And without… Without him…”

Velvet reached out and caught Cadance’s hoof. “Easy, Cady, I’m here!” She startled herself, her intended quiet whisper being a loud his.

“I know, and thank you. Could we meet again, please, soon?”

Twilight Velvet nodded enthusiastically. “Of course! Let’s do it sometime this week to keep up the feeling.”

“Yes, let’s do it,” giggled Cadance at the voice of words, hoping the blush didn’t show through her pink hair.

Author's Note:

This is all I have right now. I hope yall like it. I would like to see this story through to the finish. What do you think?

Chapter 3 is not yet in production, but I hope to keep em coming. I'm liking these short and sweet chapters.

I have to thank the great Gary Oak for his help with this. Go give him a look.