The Convoluted Life of Gleaming Shield

Hunkered over the sink, Gleaming gasped in shock as the cold water splashed against her face. It ran down her muzzle in chilly rivulets, matting her fur and clinging to her nostrils. The water tickled her nose and she snorted, sending a spray of droplets splashing against the glass.

She stared at herself in the mirror for a moment before splashing her face again, and again, and again. Eventually, she felt herself cooling down in more ways than one. The heat between her legs diminished along with the heat in her face.

Splashing her face one last time, she hung her head over the sink, allowing the water to drip from her muzzle. The drops danced across the lips of her open mouth, and her tongue darted out unconsciously to lap them up. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath before straightening up and looking at herself in the mirror again.

Cadance stared back at her.

“Celestia bucking damn it!” Staggering backward, Gleaming almost crashed into the stall door. Heart pounding in her chest, she glared at the pink reflection in the mirror, which was giving her a bemused look.

“Okay, so I understand that some ponies need privacy to take care of a quickie,” she said, “but you forgot to grab the creature. How is he suppose to rut us stupid if we’re in here and he’s out there?”

I didn’t come in here to get rutted!” Gleaming gasped.

Cadance pressed her hooves against the mirror. “I’d say! It’s kinda hard to get an itch scratched if the scratching post isn’t present!”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Gleaming growled covering her ears.

“Go out there and get that dick!”

“Leave me alone!” Gleaming cried as she fell back onto her rump. “Stop, stop, stop!” Tears leapt unbidden to her eyes and she shut them, letting out a choking gasp. “What do you want from me?” she sobbed. “What do you want from me?” Collapsing, she rested her chin on the cold floor and covered her face with her forelegs. “P-please, just leave me alone.”

Silence fell over the bathroom, broken only by the soft sounds of Gleaming’s sobs. They weren’t the soft, dainty sobs that one usually expects from somepony who is crying, but deep, ugly ones that welled up from deep within one’s soul until they overflow in a choking, gasping cry that wracks one’s whole body. They were the sound of stress and loneliness and unhappiness, all rolled into one, all trapped within the body, buried deep down until there was nowhere left for them to go but out.

“I’m… sorry.”

The voice was soft, the words spoken in barely a whisper. It was out of character too, given who the apology was coming from. If Gleaming hadn’t been sure that it was only the two of them in the bathroom, she would have sworn it had come from somepony else. The tone was one that she had yet to hear from the mare. It was contrite, almost timid, and completely out of place coming from the lecherous she-demon.

Blinking tears from her eyes, Gleaming peered up from between her forelegs.

From within the mirror, Cadance sat down on her haunches and looked off to the side, her ears splayed back and a look that could almost be regret on her face. “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “I may… have gotten ahead of myself here. It’s just, I-I’ve been trapped inside the Crystal Heart for so long that I… when I found myself free again, I just couldn’t… I just…” She shook her head. “I realized that’s no excuse for my behavior though. I…” Closing her mouth, she swallowed thickly.

Gleaming pushed herself into a seated position and wiped her nose with a hoof. “W-what do you want from me? Why are you doing this?”

“I…” Cadance closed her eyes and released a long sigh. For a moment, she said nothing, but then she turned her gaze back to Gleaming, who was surprised to find a warm, almost motherly smile on the she-demon’s face.

“My name is Mi Amore Cadenza,” she said. “At one point I was a goddess of fertility. Of beauty and sex and love. Ponies would come from far and wide to see me, to receive my blessing, and even to potentially sleep with me. Mares became swollen with foals under my influence and the stamina of the stallions rose. An entire city was mine in the far North. Families bloomed and populations boomed. Love flourished throughout my domain!” Her wings flared wide for a moment, but then her smile turned sad. “But then… my sister decided I had too much, and for my hubris, I was sealed in the Crystal Heart for all eternity. Or that is, until you freed me.”

Getting to her hooves, Gleaming sniffled as she cautiously approached the mirror. “Wait… y-your sister did that to you?” She attempted to dry her cheeks with the back of a hoof. “Your sister imprisoned you? For real?”

A sour look crossed Cadance’s face. “Cee-Cee doesn’t… didn’t… doesn’t like it when others get more attention than her,” she said weakly. “It wasn’t the first time she imprisoned somepony, and it probably wasn’t the last. She was big on the banishing back in the day.”

“Still, you’re sister…” Gleaming frowned before shaking her head. “Still, that doesn’t explain what you want from me.”

“To experience life again?” Cadance shrugged. “As you no doubt can tell, I can’t necessarily touch anything at the moment. Like, at all. Nopony can see me, nopony can hear me, nopony can feel me. A-and I miss it. I miss the feeling of another’s warmth, the feeling of another’s touch, the feeling of another’s breath. It’s like being thirsty but being unable to drink. And I need you to experience it all again.” She gave Gleaming a pleading look. “That’s what I need from you. I need to feel alive again. It’s been too long. I… I need it, please. I can’t… not again...”

The two mares gazed at each other for a long moment, neither speaking. Blue eyes stared deeply into purple, each mare reflected in the others’ gaze, and the world seemed to stand still.

Gleaming was the first one to speak.

“A-alright.” She licked her lips. “Alright, I can try and help you out. Experience the world. Help you live again. Just… please, lay off with Anon.” Her ears folded against her head. “I… he’s a touchy subject. I’d love to… with him… but I just… can’t…”

“Hmmm,” Cadance hummed as she rubbed her chin. “Tell you what. We’ll help each other out. It’s only fair, right? Yes, a deal sounds good. Since you’re letting me experience the world again, I’ll help you with your colt troubles.” Gleaming’s eyes widened. “Oh come now, girl. With my expertise, we’ll have that colt, er… Anon, eating out of your hoof in no time. Or rather eating out something else.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “What do you say? Sisters?”

Gleaming’s ear twitched. “You’ll help me with Anon?”

Cadance held up a hoof. “Promise.”

“You’ll help me get with Anon?”

“Promise!”

“You won’t force me to do anything?” Gleaming asked, her eyes narrowing. “No trickery, no spells, no mind control?”

“Just a little?” Cadance grinned. At Gleaming glare, she rolled her eyes. “I’m kidding. We’ll go at your speed. Promise-promise. But at the end of the day, the result will be the same. I get to do my duty again, and you’ll get the colt of your dreams. It’s perfect.”

Gleaming didn’t even need to think about it. “Deal.” Without really knowing why she did it, she put her hoof against the mirror. Cadance copied her action, their two hooves touching through the thin layer of glass. A spark jumps between them before a faint pink light flickers across the mirror.

Cadance grinned.

“Deal,” she purred, eyes lidded.