A Lost Connection

Cadence slumped down on her bed. She looked outside her window and saw that the moon was just about to go down. She checked the clock and saw that it was 2:30 in the morning. She groaned and plopped her head on her pillow. Shining Armor stirred a little in his sleep. Cadence looked over and saw that he was still in uniform. His body armor was still on and his helmet was on the floor, not far from his hoof, which was dangling off the bed.

The Princess of Love sighed as she started to slowly drift off to sleep. She had been sleeping later and later each day. The ponies of the Crystal Empire needed more help than she thought. More problems each day, too many of which were caused by the activating of the heart's power. Shining Armor always stayed up to wait for Cadence, but he has been passing out trying to stay up for her lately. Cadence was as busy as ever. The past two months have been hectic, the empire always a buzz. Ponies were travelling from as far as Manehattan just to get Cadence to solve their problems. She was always happy to help, but it was becoming quite tiresome...

"Cadence? Cadence, wake up!"

Cadence groaned and rolled off her bed. Her mane was tangled and uneven. She looked and saw that Shining Armor was all prepared to lead the guard another day. She gave him a weak smile and started to brush her mane. Halfway through, she fell asleep again. Shining Armor trotted over and shook his wife awake again.

"Wha...I'm up! I'm up!!" Cadence burst her eyes open and stood up quickly. She yawned and finished brushing. Shining Armor looked worriedly at her. Cadence glanced at him and raised a questioning eyebrow. "What?" Cadence yawned again and her eyelids started to droop again.

"Cadence! I think its time to deactivate your heart power from the ponies." Shining Armor stated firmly. "Look at you! You're exhausted each and everyday. You can barely even brush your mane without drifting off. The empire is never at rest. This is exactly what I was worried about when you started this. You need to stop."

"Shining, I wish I could find a way to satisfy everypony, but I can't! The heart and I are bound forever. It's not like I can pass this much power onto another Alicorn! This is my duty, and if losing a bit of sleep is the price, well I'm willing to pay it." Cadence snapped back.

"Well what if I'm not willing to let you pay? Look at yourself! You're not just losing an hour, you barely get a nap in! That's it, I'm telling the guards to let you rest." He began to walk towards the door.

"No! Shining Armor, I can handle this!" Cadence tried to run after the husband, but she got tired quickly. Soon, everything went black. The last thing she saw was Shining Armor turning around and running to catch her.

A day or so later

Cadence woke up fully rested. She felt normal again. For the past week, Shining Armor and the castle staff has been caring for her. Twilight and some of her friends even came to visit. They were all wonderful company, but Cadence could never rest without waking at least once. The ponies of the empire have been getting anxious. Her magic and the heart were awake non-stop. She always sensed an imbalance.

"Cadence?" Shining Armor opened the door slowly to see his wife sitting up at the bed. He smiled and walked in. "Good morning, how are you doing?" He walked up her and kissed her cheek.

"You're right Shining Armor. I needed this, but I can't just abandon the ponies out there. I might be able to redistribute this magic, but to who? I don't know of anypony who can handle this, and I wouldn't want to wish this upon anypony," Cadence closed her eyes and focused on lighting her horn. No blue mist appeared. It was now entirely lavender. She opened her eyes to see Shining Armor with an unreadable expression.

"Okay, we need to see the other Princesses about this. I can't stand seeing you in such a condition. I'll be right back," Shining Armor tried to give Cadence his best smile and went off to alert Princess Celestia, Luna, and Twilight about Cadence's condition.

Cadence slumped down. How could she let everypony down like this? She put her hoof to her head and groaned in agony. The princess closed her eyes and immediately felt the heartbreak of ponies everywhere. It wasn't just love anymore, but all the ponies with friendship had problems arising as well. She didn't know how the Princess of Love could fix Friendship problems without Twilight. She was really starting to regret ever tampering with the crystal heart.

A few hours later

"Cadence!" The princess was napping when she heard someone shout her name. She perked up to see Twilight, Luna, and Celestia beside her bed. Twilight hugged her sister-in-law. "I was so worried when Shining Armor told me about your condition! Are you okay? Does your horn hurt? What about your magic? Is that okay too?" Twilight frantically began to look into Cadence's horn and inspect her face when Celestia cleared her throat.

"Ahem.." The Princess of the Sun coughed a bit. Twilight sheepishly smiled and calmed down. The flowy-haired princess then began to speak. "You've gotten yourself into quite the predicament, Princess Cadence."

"It appears you cannot get any rest," Luna spoke up. "How do you think this problem should be handled?" Luna looked to the other princesses. The shrugged a little and looked to Cadence.

"I really think it would be best if, maybe other ponies could handle this job?" Cadence suggested. She immediately felt embarrassed after hearing how lazy the statement sounded. She internally face-hoofed herself. To make matters even more awkward, she threw in a crooked smile.

"Princess Cadence, if you feel that it is best for you to transfer this job to another pony, it is fine, but who could withstand so much power? You are an Alicorn Princess! If this job were to be passed down to another pony, I'm not sure they would be able to handle it," Luna frowned slightly and furrowed her eyebrows. She looked over at her sister, Princess Celestia, yet her sibling remained monotone.

"Why don't you sleep on it?" Twilight suggested. Cadence nodded silently. She wasn't sure what else to do. She was really out of it these few days. The other three princesses bowed and walked out of the room. "Good night!" Twilight called as she smiled at her sister-in-law. Cadence waved and slumped back down in her bed as Shining Armor returned to the room.

He waved good-bye at Twilight and bowed to the other princesses. "Cadence! Did you and the others find a solution?" Shining Armor trotted in and smiled at his wife. Cadence could only return a half-hearted smile.

"I don't know. I can't think at all right now! I think I just need to go back to sleep..." Cadence lay back down and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry Shining Armor."

The Captain of the Royal Guard nodded with sympathy and kissed Cadence on her forehead before leaving the room to guide the night shift.