Just as he raised his hand to knock on the door, Shining Armor was struck by a sudden rush of unreality. How many times had he stood on this porch, right in front of this door? How often had he reached out a finger to compulsively touch a petal of the daisy mounted on the doorbell (the one that he'd never been able to fix, no matter how many times he'd tried) as though to remind himself of its plasticity, it's unrealness? How could it be that he was standing here now, after everything that had happened, for what would most likely be the very last time?

He took a breath to steady himself, then knocked three times.

"Just a minute!"

The sing-song voice that called from within, despite everything he'd seen and heard these past few months, made part of Shining Armor's heart leap at the sound. He stood stock-still and stared hard at the white wooden door, willing himself to be calm, to be steady, to be sure.

He saw Rarity’s face in the door’s paint, smiling at him and offering unconditional support...

The door swung open, and his ex-fiancée’s face took Rarity’s place. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. "Shiny? Why didn't you call?"

He took in her robe clad form and still wet hair, evidence of a recent shower. "I... I can come back if this is a bad time."

She rolled her eyes and stepped to the side. "It's not like you've never seen me in my bathrobe, Shiny. Come on in."

He hesitated. "You want me to come inside?"

"You came to talk, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we're not going to talk out on the porch. My neighbors have enough to gossip about already." She walked away from the door, back down the way he knew her bedroom was. "You can make yourself a drink if you want one.” She called back. “I'll be out in a minute."

He watched her go, ashamed that his eyes still fell to the swell of her backside as she strolled away. He stepped in and closed the door behind him once she was gone and he heard her hair-dryer start running. The house’s decorations were just as he remembered from his last visit. He tried not to look at all the framed pictures of the two of them in the hallway and quickly made his way to the living room. Her wet bar was off in the corner, and he poured himself a shot of whiskey in an attempt to calm his nerves. He tossed the drink back, breathing easy at the familiar burn travelling down his throat.

"I know it's your favorite." He heard her say behind him. "I made sure to keep it in stock. Just in case you came by."

He smiled ruefully. "Do you want anything while I’m here?"

"My Shiny. Still such a gentleman." He heard her giggle as she made for the love-seat. "I'm good for now. Thank you."

He turned and started when he saw what she'd changed into. "Cadance..."

"What?" She reclined on the small couch, now clad in what he knew was her (and once upon a time, his) favorite little black dress. She'd managed to dry her hair to perfection in record time, and she winked at him with the eye not covered by a stray lock of pink and yellow. "I know it's not much, but if you'd given me a call ahead of time..." She sat up and patted the cushion beside her in obvious invitation.

Shining Armor didn't take the bait. He walked instead to the room's recliner, completely opposite the love seat, and sat. "How are you doing?"

She sighed at his attempt to distance himself and reclined once again. "Better. Now that you're here."

He grinned without humor. "I heard you had an… interesting lunch."

Cadance's demeanor visibly changed. Her eyelid twitched slightly. "Interesting is the right word for it. I don't know which part was more interesting, to be honest with you. Maybe it was the glass of water being splashed in my face? Or maybe it was having to explain to management that the dean of the most exclusive private academy in the city was, in fact, not providing alcoholic beverages to minors." She shook her head, a mask of over the top sorrow appearing on her face. "That Rarity has a real maturity problem, Shiny."

He snorted. "That's rich, seeing how you’ve been acting lately."

"You know what? I think I will have that drink now." She stood and headed for the wet bar, purposely exaggerating her steps, knowing that his eyes would be drawn to her hips. "I imagine she told you some ludicrous story about our encounter. Is that right?"

"She did, actually, but I wanted to make sure I got both sides of the story this time. Before I flew off the handle." He leaned back deeper into the recliner, forcing his eyes to stay trained on the back of her head. "Unlike my sister."

Cadance looked back with a pout as she made herself a martini. "Please don't be mad at her, Shiny. She was upset. I mean, how could she not be? Her best friend was sneaking around with her big brother, after all."

"I'm not here to talk about her. I'm here to talk about us. You and me."

"My favorite subject." She purred as she poured her drink into a glass and turned. "Let's talk about us. Particularly the three of us." She sipped. "So… what did she tell you?"

His eyes flicked to her shoulder. "Well, first off; she told me about your new addition there."

"Oh, this?" She glanced at the insectile tattoo. "Do you not approve?"

"My approval shouldn't really matter to you anymore."

"Au contraire, Shiny. Your approval remains everything to me."

He paused, gathering his thoughts. "Rarity told me… that you threatened us. Threatened me, specifically."

Cadance laughed into her drink and shook her head. "Oh, of course she did. Pray tell; how exactly did I threaten you? I can't wait to hear it."

"She said you would go to my department heads and tell them that I was involved with a minor." His eyes narrowed. "That you'd even hint that I had been grooming her."

"My God, I could always tell she was a little drama queen, but this is just too much." She finished her drink and turned to make herself another. "I wish I could say that I was surprised, but that would be a lie. I've been working around girls like Rarity since I started at Crystal Prep. She's hardly the first to become obsessed with an older man. Most of the time they outgrow these crushes and move on, but Rarity? She actually got a bite of the one she was obsessed with. And now that she's gotten a taste? There's nothing she won't do, nothing she won’t say, to keep you to herself." She looked back with concern in her eyes. "She needs help, Shiny. Especially if she's willing to tell lies like that." She glanced at the rows of bottles. "I think she might also have a drinking problem. She downed that wine like it was nothing and..."

"Cadance. Enough."

She turned and found him glaring at her with such wanton anger that her first instinct was to flee. She quickly overcame the urge and offered her most sympathetic look. "I thought you came to hear my side of this. If you were really going to take that little slut's word as gospel, you wouldn’t have come here."

The thunderclouds in Shining Armor's eyes darkened. "Don't call her that."

She sashayed towards him. "You have to call a spade a spade sometimes, my sweet-heart. I know you're blinded by those supple young curves right now, but soon you'll see I'm right." She put the glass down on the coffee table and leaned over him. "I know that I've been bad, but are you really going to throw away everything we were, everything we are, just because of a little canoodling?"

His eyes appeared to soften and he did not retreat from her initial advance. "It was more than a little..."

"We can work this out. I know we can." She gave him her best smoldering gaze and leaned in further to press her advantage. "We can get through anything so long as we're together. You and me? We're destined. Fated. Our love can move mountains." She brushed her cheek against his, letting him get a whiff of her perfume, the one she knew was his favorite. "I've missed you." She whispered huskily. "None of them could ever compare to you. You know that. You're the best I've ever had." She brushed her lips against his ear and felt him shiver. "Make love to me now. And later? We'll get this all worked out. I know we will..."

His hand moved from the armrest. "And Rarity?"

"I know you've come to love her. Maybe we can make her a part of this. Would you like that?" She felt his hand moving down and knew she'd won. She braced herself for his first touch, made herself ready to climb into his lap. "It can be the three of us. I know we could work something out if we put our minds to it. But right now, it's just you and..."

"Yes, I would. I'd destroy him... because I love him. I would tear down every pillar that supports him... until only I remain. Then, finally, he'd understand how much we need each other."

Cadance froze solid at the sound of her own voice. She pulled back and stared in disbelief. "What the...?"

Shining Armor's smile was pitying, his eyes sad, as he held aloft the digital voice recorder he'd pulled from his pocket. "We would probably have to move as far away as possible. Somewhere no one could possibly know about his... transgressions.” The voice of past Cadance said from the small black rectangle. “Far away from the judgmental stares, the broken public trust... Far away from you." He hit the STOP button and lowered his arm. "Rarity's a lot smarter than you or I give her credit for. This was in her purse the whole time."

As realization dawned on Cadance, fury began to bubble up into her throat like vomit. "That little bitch."

"Hey, you tied your own rope with this one." He waved the recorder at her. "You were practically bragging."

"You... you just sat there and let me..." She sputtered like a tea-kettle about to boil over.

"I wanted to hear your side, like I told you." He put the recorder back in his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest. "I wanted to see if you wanted to start being honest with me. Looks like you weren't."

"Honest? You want to talk to me about being honest? You lost the high ground there when you started banging jailbait behind my back."

"You're right. I wasn't being honest either. But at least I'm trying to get better." He raised his eyebrows. "Are you?"

"Don't you dare talk down to me!" She pointed a finger at him. "You're no better than I am. You think just because you've been slipping between the sheets with only one girl then that somehow makes you better than me? Well it doesn't! You wanted this break! Everything that's happened since is of no consequence to what came before."

"Oh, I agree." Shining Armor leaned forward. "Now, are we going to talk like rational adults about this? Just this one time?"

Cadance threw her hands in the air and turned away. "What could we possibly have to talk about at this point? You've already made up your mind and..."

"GODDAMMIT CADANCE WILL YOU JUST TALK TO ME!?" He roared as he stood.

"WHAT FOR?!" She screamed back. "I DON'T NEED TO LISTEN YOU TELLING ME AGAIN HOW THIS IS ALL MY FAULT!" She pointed at the door. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST GET OUT, GO STICK IT IN YOUR LITTLE WHORE, AND KEEP LAUGHING ABOUT HOW YOU TWO GOT ONE OVER ON ME?!"

"BUT IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!" He yelled so loudly some of the framed pictures on the wall shook. "IT'S not... It's not your fault." He collapsed into the chair and buried his face in his hands. "It's... it's mine..."

Cadance's chest heaved as she watched the man she'd always considered the love of her life beginning to shake. "What are you talking about?"

"For all the time we were together, I've always felt inadequate. Like I wasn't good enough for you. Eventually, it got to the point that I was doing everything in our relationship not because I loved you, but just to make sure you wouldn't leave me. Because whenever I imagined life without you, I got scared. I started to define myself by my relationship with you." He looked up at her, eyes red. "I'm sorry. I’m so sorry I never said anything."

Cadance was shaken by the look of devastation in his eyes. "But why didn't you ever tell me any of this before?"

"I should have. That's what I'm trying to say. Maybe if I'd been more honest with you back then about how I was feeling, then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation now." He put his face down again. "I did this. I fucked us up."

Cadance slowly sat down on the couch beside the chair and reached out a hand to rub his back. "It's... it's okay, baby." She chewed the inside of her cheek. "Believe me; I never thought you were beneath me. Not even once. If anything, I always thought I was the lucky one."

Shining Armor sniffed loudly and sat back in the chair, wiping his eyes. "Thank you. That's… that’s nice to hear.” He coughed. “Admittedly, it would've been nicer to hear before the rest of this happened." He looked at her, a look of such intense sadness and loss in his eyes that she just wanted to hold him. "Why didn't you tell me about..."

"...about?"

"Y'know." He gestured at her. "Everything. What you wanted?"

She pulled her hand back and looked away. "I... I guess I was afraid. Afraid that you'd judge me."

"You've known me since we were kids, Cadance. Does that really sound like something I would do?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I feel like I don't know anything anymore." They sat together, listening to the sound of the clock on the wall. "Where did we fuck up so bad, Shining Armor?"

"Who knows? Years ago, maybe?" He looked away. “Too long ago for us to fix it, I think.”

"We're done, aren't we?" For the first time since she'd considered the idea, the words didn't taste so poisonous on her lips. Still bad, understand, but not quite so awful.

He nodded. "Yeah. I... I can't trust you anymore. With anything. And that fucking sucks." He looked back at her, trying to see past the lies and the deceptions. Tried to see the woman he had always dreamed of sharing his life with. "I loved you. So fucking much. Never forget that."

"I know." Her voice broke as she put her arms around herself, suddenly feeling very exposed in her tiny dress. The hurt in his voice broke her heart, and for the first time in months she remembered what she'd had and understood the depth of what she'd done, the extent of what she'd now lost. "I loved you, too. I still love you. I’ll probably always love you. You… you were always enough for me." She felt the tears coming and turned away. "I'm so sorry I never told you about any of it."

Shining Armor watched her and swallowed hard. "You know the worst part of all this is?”

“What?”

“After what you did when I got here? I can't tell if you're being sincere anymore."

Cadance said nothing as the tears began to fall in earnest.

He stood and patted his pocket. "I'm not going to lie to people anymore. Not you, not my sister... not anybody. So you can believe me when I tell you that no will hear this recording unless you do something incredibly stupid." He closed the distance between them and looked down at her. His heart ached as she shook with the building tears. "I want to believe you, I do. I want to believe you're sincere. And maybe, one day, you and I can be friends again. But for now? It’s best that you stay away from Rarity and me." He leaned down and, before he could stop himself, he kissed the top of her head. She stiffened briefly, then looked up at him. Her eyes swam with tears, need, and regret.

For a single instant, one last, fleeting beat of the heart that had once been hers, he wondered what it would feel like to kiss her. One last time.

As if reading his mind, her eyes closed and her lips puckered.

He leaned down, their lips a hair's breadth apart...

The clock struck the hour, filling the room with musical chimes.

Shining Armor stopped. "...Good-bye, Cadance." He whispered. And then he left, gone in an instant. The door closed behind him with a final thud that seemed to echo in the emptiness he left behind.

She sat there, her eyes closed, until the chimes had finished. She waited until she was sure that he wasn't coming back. She waited to see if she'd wake up soon. She sat there until the hour struck once more. Then, as though some spell had been broken, she seized the martini glass from the table in front of her and hurled it at the wall of photos in the hall with a cry of anguish. The glass in one frame shattered and mingled with the glass of alcohol when it struck, and the whole thing fell to the carpet, picture and all. Cadance curled herself into a ball on the couch and shrieked as she cried. She wept her soul out as she finally accepted the truth that he was gone.

The picture, a simple selfie of her and Shining Armor on a hike somewhere, stood upright for a moment, then fell face-first onto the pile of broken glass.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Shining Armor made it home without much incident, and was not at all surprised to find all the lights still out. He’d figured that after the day they’d had, Rarity would likely want to spend the night at her own place. He kicked off his shoes and headed straight for the bedroom, more exhausted than he'd been in all his life. He opened the door...

...and found Rarity waiting for him on her side of the bed. She was reading a paperback by the light of her bedside lamp. When he entered, she put down the book and removed her spectacles. She spoke not a word, only smiled and held out her arms.

He crawled onto the comforter and into her embrace, falling limp against her. She stroked his head lovingly, played with his messy blue hair, and he found himself being lulled by her body heat and the steady beat of her heart. "How was your day?" He asked her, his voice muffled by her chest.

She laughed lowly and kissed the top of his head. "...Swell." She reached over and turned out the light. "I got my best friend back."

"That's good." He was glad it was dark now. Now she couldn't see as his eyes flooded and his voice cracked. The kiss on his head, a mirror to the one he’d given Cadance, was the breaking point. "I... I lost mine."

She held him as he finally let go of everything he’d been holding in all day. She never let go as the broken heart within him finally gave up it's last, desperate ghost. She said nothing as he wept and sobbed and shook with the raw power of saying good-bye to the only truth you've known for over a decade.

She held him tight, and she kept on loving him, until he finally fell asleep in her arms.

Author's Note

"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."
-Marilyn Monroe