Shining Armor lied in bed. He felt like he was boiling, and a deep pinching pain was tearing him apart.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM?" his daughter roared at the doctor.
The doctor might not know what was wrong with Shining Armor, but he himself knew very well. He was worn out, like a shirt which had been worn until the tread had turn to dust. The best of Equestria's magic and medicine had patched him over and over again, but this time, he was beyond saving.
"Flurry, you know I don't like it when you shout." he muttered.
"I know... but what do you want me to do about this quack?"
"He's not a quack. Doctor Penicillin is one of Equestria's greatest medical professionals."
"Then why hasn't he fixed you yet, daddy?"
She burst out crying.
"Come here, pumpkin."
Flurry Heart obliged. With what little strength he had in him, he gripped her tightly. He felt like crying himself. Not for his own sake, but for hers. He was not too good to die, but she was too good to lose a father.
They might have not always gotten along. The sneaking out. The drinking. The years and years of laziness. The "rebellious" little shits she called boyfriends that almost pissed themselves when he looked at them. But none of that mattered the first time he had stared death in the eyes last time, none of that mattered now. She was his little girl, he was her daddy.
Flurry had recently turned her life around. She had become something of an Equestrian hero. The Princess of Protection, she had come to be known. Guess she had something of her father in her. She had even found a boyfriend which, while he didn't like, he didn't want to beat to a pulp. A wonderbolt. Guess she got her liking for military types from her mother. He was proud of her.
"Your father needs his strength. Let him rest."
Flurry Heart broke Shining Armor's embrace and got up. She couldn't stop her tears though.
"Cadence, I'm not getting through this one."
"Don't say that. You won against cancer, you're going to win against this!"
"I'm not stallion I once was."
"Yes, you are!"
Shining Armor knew how painfully wrong she was. His once blue mane was now as white as his coat. The muscles he had so proudly grown in his youth and maintained later on had atrofied to the point that he couldn't get out of bed without help. He had two teeth left. He was a joke. Other stallions had called him lucky for being married to a mare that doesn't age, but he instead had started to feel like an impostor around his own wife as age had crept up on him. Like an old pervert sneaking up on a young mare.
And yet Cadence had loyally stuck with him no matter how much of a parody of himself he had become. She had always tried to forget that he was a mere mortal and had always tried to make him do the same. She had done everything to make him feel like the stallion he wasn't anymore.
"You should remarry."
He had said that before when that tumor had started growing in his liver and his life had hung in the balance.
"No, I shouldn't. You'll live." she tried reassured him with her false hope.
She had said the same thing last time. Yet he felt obliged to remind her. He didn't want to doom her to an eternity of loneliness out of guilt.
Next to her was his little sis, staring into nothing at all. Celestia had ordered a pony to be around her at all times, in case she tried to do something stupid.
And who could have blamed her if she did? Time hadn't been kind to her fellow elements of harmony. Pinkie Pie had bounced around until her last day. Until her heart had burst and she could bounce around no more. Rarity had gotten a stroke while sewing. She had become a vegetable. She was dead in all but name. Fluttershy had fought her own fight with cancer and lost. All so quickly after each other. Every time she had come to cry on his shoulder. Every time he felt that a piece of Twilight had died with them when they left her. And now he had the bad manners to do the same.
He wondered what waited for him. He had heard silly stories. About ponies going to a farm after they died, to frolic forever and eat golden apples. No, nothing waited for him. But nothing sounded heavenly compared to losing a father, a lover or a brother. He was lucky. He didn't want to be lucky.
He'd live in their memories, he had told himself last time he lied in bed like this, but even that was a lie. No matter how badly they tried to preserve him in remembrance, he'd still fade away like a dream after waking up. Year after year, decade after decade, century after century. He knew this from experience. His memories of mom and dad weren't nearly as vivid as they once were.
Maybe if he had doubled down on his studies like his sister, he might have ascended to alicornhood himself. Maybe he wouldn't have had to do this to them.
It was too late for that now. And how many had doubled down on their studies only to die regardless? Sunburst and Starlight had met their fate decades ago, burned to a crisp by a spell that went wrong. Even after all these years, he could remember their screams from the library, even though he didn't want to. His eyes were tired. He instinctually knew that if he closed them, he wouldn't open them again. But he couldn't hold them open anymore. All the fight in him was gone.
He took one last look at the three most important mares in his life.
"I'm sorry." he whispered.
And closed his eyes.
