The Convoluted Life of Gleaming Shield

Gleaming stared intently at what used to be her mirror, now a smoking pile of glass shards on the bathroom floor, while a chard black circle marked where the mirror had once hung on the wall.

She waited—horn pulsing with magic—for something to happen. When nothing did, she tentatively reached out and poked at the pile with a hoof. One of the pieces flipped over, revealing a single blue eye staring back at her from the cracked mirror.

Her eye.

The magic around her horn winked out and she frowned. What… was that? Was that just my imagination? With how tired she was, there was a very good chance that was the case. After all, it wouldn’t have been the first time she had hallucinations due to lack of sleep, and it probably wouldn’t have been the last.

At least nopony was hurt.

This time.

As her heart rate slowly returned to normal, Gleaming let out a long, drawn-out sigh and closed her eyes. I really need to get some slee—

“My goodness, but that wasn’t called for.”

Letting out a yelp, Gleaming whirled around, her horn glowing again, to find a mare stretched out languidly across the lip of the bathtub. She grinned upon Gleaming noticing her presence, her eyes half-lidded. “Hey there, cutie pie. My, but aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. Looking fine this evening.”

Gleaming stared blankly at her before her horn flashed.

“What are you—wait, no! Don’t!” Unable to fight the magic, the mare was picked up and forced out of the now-open window. Gleaming slammed it shut behind the mare, making sure to lock it for good measures. She stared at the closed window before slowly turning to leave the bathroo—

“A bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?” the mare asked. She was perched on the lip of the tub again as if nothing had happened. “I mean, I give you a nice compliment, and you throw me out the window? What kind of mare—hey!”

This time Gleaming put a little more ‘oomph’ into the toss.

Slamming the window again, she waited a few seconds to make sure the mare was truly gone this time. When nothing happened, she turned away from the windo—sonofabitch!

“As much fun as this is, I’d prefer it if you’d stop throwing me out the window.” The mare pouted as she reclined on the bathroom counter. “I mean, there’s only so much a girl can take before she begins to feel unwanted… really?”

Gleaming left the bathroom, closing the door abruptly behind her.

“There,” she said softly to herself. “Out of sight, out of mind. Right?”

The mare’s head suddenly appeared through the door, phasing through the wood effortlessly.

Gleaming’s eye twitched. “Nope. Nope, nope, nope…” Turning, she walked off.

“You know,” the mare said as the rest of her body slipped through the door, “if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re trying to get rid of me. But that can’t be right.” She floated along through the air, her hooves never touching the carpet as she followed Gleaming down the hall.

Trotting into the kitchen, Gleaming glanced around.

“Are you just going to ignore me all night or what?” the mare began, only to be cut off when Gleaming suddenly whipped a broom at her head. The mare only had a chance to blink in surprise before the head of the broom impacted her face, only to pass right through it with almost no resistance.

“Would you mind not doing that?” the mare asked. Her nose scrunched up. “It feels weird.”

Undeterred, Gleaming took a few more swipes at the floating mare, even going as far as to try and jab the broom handle into the mare’s stomach. It was all in vain though, as the broom seemed unable to touch the mare.

Eventually, Gleaming gave up. Tossing the broom aside, she glared up at the mare, taking in her appearance.

Her coat was a brilliant shade of bubblegum pink and seemed slick, like it was covered in an even layer of oil. A mane of purple, pink, and yellow fell about her shoulders, chains of gold strung through the strands. At her sides, a pair of bat-like wings emerged, both a darker shade of pink than her coat. Despite the fact she was floating in the air, neither wing seemed to be working to keep her aloft. Two horns sprouted from her temples, curving upwards and outwards. Last were her eyes, which were a dazzling purple and heavily mascaraed. They glimmered with interest as she watched Gleaming.

Still glaring, Gleaming finally spoke. “Who are you?”

The mare let out an excited gasp. “Oh! Finally interested in talking with me, huh? It’s about time! It was really, really boring just floating around while you ignored me all day. Okay, so.” Flipping onto her back in midair, she took on the posture that one would take if they were seated in an armchair. She put a hoof to her chest and cleared her throat. Her face became neutral and when she spoke, her voice held authority and dignity. “I have been called many things through the decades, by many thousands of creatures. The ponies know me as Amare, the griffons call me Lufu, the changelings refer to me as Shubby-Rath. You, dear mortal, may call me… Mi Amore Cadenza.”

Gleaming blinked. “Mi… Amore. Cadenza?”

“Please, call me Cadance!” the mare chirped, her demeanor changing instantly. Gone was the dignity, and instead she almost seemed bubbly. “I hate my full title. It’s too much of a mouthful.” She waggled her eyebrows. “The wrong kind of mouthful.”

“Okay, Cadance,” Gleaming said with a frown. “Where the buck did you come from?”

“Weeellll,” Cadance hummed. “You see… when a mare and a stallion love each other very, very much, the stallion will get excited and then take his cock and—”

Gleaming jammed her hoof against Cadance’s muzzle. Much to her surprise, she found that she was actually able to touch the mare. With a hoof pressed against her lips, Cadance could no longer speak, but that didn’t stop her from continuing. A muffled stream of words kept coming, even though Gleaming couldn’t understand them.

Tentatively, she removed her hoof.

“—and then the mare bends over and sucks on the stallions balls while he’s railing her backside like there’s no—”

Gleaming replaced her hoof. Was it suddenly warm in here, or was it just her? After a moment, she went to remove her hoof again.

“—squelching with each thrust, all while his load drips out of her snatch and down onto her face like a waterfall of—”

Nope. The hoof went back again. After another moment...

“—stuffs her muzzle up into the other mare’s plot in order to suck out all the foal batter and then—”

A liiiiittle longer...

“—and vanilla pudding—”

Gleaming waited for over a minute this time before attempting to remove her hoof from the mare’s mouth. As she pulled away, Cadance threw her forelegs up in the air.

“—and eleven months later, voila! You have a foal!” She gave Gleaming a big smile, her wings fluttering at her sides.

Gleaming matched the look with a deadpan stare before turning and walking into the living room.

As Cadance followed curiously, Gleaming collapsed back onto the couch and covered her face with her hooves. “This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. It’s a figment of my imagination. I’m asleep. She isn’t real. A hallucination. This isn’t happening.”

“I’m not real?” Cadance scoffed. “Honey, I’m the realest thing you’re ever gonna get.” As Gleaming peered out from behind her hooves, Cadance rolled her eyes. “Oh, don’t give me that look. You’ve only yourself to blame.” Leaning down, she poked Gleaming, right on the pink, glowing mark above her crotch. “After all, you’re the one that broke the artifact that was imprisoning me.”

“What?” Gleaming asked.

“The artifact?” Cadance spun in the air. “You know, a large heart made out of crystal? Blue? Glowing? Shattered when you smashed into it?”

“Oh.” Gleaming blanched. “Oh gods.”

“Eeyup,” Cadance giggled. “You broke it, and now I’m free!”

Gleaming grumbled. “Well, bully for you. Now go be free somewhere else.”

“Can’t.” Cadance examined her hoof. “I really need to paint these again. It’s been ages.” Her horns glowed faintly, and a moment later her hooves flashed through a spectrum of colors before settling on black. “Oooh. Nice.”

“Why not?” Gleaming demanded.

Cadance shrugged. “It’s rather simple, really. I don’t have a body to return to, so I’m attached to the pony that freed me. You freed me. Hence, you’re stuck with me.”

Gleaming stared at her for a long moment before getting up. Without saying a word, she turned and walked off.

“Where are you going?” Cadance asked.

“To bed,” Gleaming said, not looking back. “I’m too tired to deal with this. Besides, there’s like a.. fifty-fifty chance you’re just a figment of my sleep-deprived mind. I’m going to sleep, and you’ll be gone in the morning.”

Making her way down the hall, Gleaming could already imagine the feeling of her warm bed beneath her with her soft pillow under her head. Sleep was calling her, and she was actually going to enjoy it. Pushing open her bedroom door, she took a couple of steps inside only to freeze.

Resting on a bare mattress was a tangled ball of dried, sex-encrusted sheets. She hadn’t done any laundry yet, and if her memory served right, those sheets had been like that for the past five days.

She picked the soiled sheets up in her magic only to drop them. They impacted the floor with a dull thud, bounced twice, and then sat there, still in a ball. A stale scent wafted up from the tangled mess.

Gleaming closed her eyes and groaned. If she wanted to sleep in her bed, she’d have to do some laundry first. “So close,” she murmured sadly. “So bucking close.”

Eyes still closed, she winced as a low whistle came from beside her.

“Goodness. I’ve slept in my own love juices before, but you’re just showing off.”