The Path to Decay

Twilight hopped over each pillar, and made it to where Cadance was lying. She took a glance at the pink alicorn and saw the deep gash in Cadance's chest caused by Morior's horn, which by now has been destroyed in the lava. Twilight just looked happy, as Cadance started to move, and turned over to face Twilight.

"Cadance, you're alive!" Twilight shouted in glee.

"Nothing...nothing can keep me from you, Twilight" Cadance remarked, breathing deep and heavy.

Twilight noticed Cadance was not well at all, the gash where Cadance was struck in the chest was blood red, with a forest green glow. Morior must have cast a spell to make his horn poisonous, as he was well trained in the dark arts, as well as spells that he could use to his advantage to execute other ponies in such a fashion that he had done on Cadance.

"Twilight..." Cadance called weakly.

"Yes, Cadance?" Twilight responded.

"I realize I don't *cough* have much time left" Cadance muttered, starting to become weaker, and light headed.

"Yes you do Cadance, you can fight through this, I won't let you leave me!" Twilight yelled, sobbing ever so loudly.

"Twilight, I'm sorry that...that it had to be this way, but I was *cough* doing what was best to help you...." Cadance replied, starting to choke up over the sobbing mare.

"I don't want you to go Cadance, Morior's magic can't take you away!" Twilight started to tightly hug Cadance.

Cadance returned the hug.

"Listen, the re..*cough* reason I stepped in was s-so you and your friends could be safe, it would break my heart to have seen you in this situation instead of me. You and your friends have your whole lives ahead of you Twilight, and I want you to enjoy those years, and I want you to let Shining Armor know that.. *cough* ...even if I'm gone in the physical world, our love will stand the test of time"

Twilight's crying slowed, and she had a smile shine across her face, sniffling and hugging Cadance even tighter.

"I'll let him know, Cadance, that you were the best foalsitter, and the best sister a pony could have ever asked for" she commented.

Hearing this brought more tears to Cadance's eyes, and a smile started to appear as she gave Twilight a kiss on the forehead, and fixed Twilight's messy mane.

"And most of all, my love for you remains until the end of time, Twilight, you were my favorite foal" Cadanced giggled.

"Sunshine sunshine..." Twilight began.

"...ladybugs awake..." Cadance continued weakly

"Clap your hooves"

"And do a little shake..." both said in unison.

As they finished, Twilight felt Cadance's body get heavier as she went limp, her consciousness faded, and her vital signs no longer visible, it was the moment Twilight did not want to see happen

Cadance was gone.

Twilight just buried her face into Cadance's chest and started to weep, now that one of the most influential people she had ever known was gone, moving on to the spirit world. Twilight picked up and started to carry Cadance's lifeless body out of the underground room, with assistance of her friends as she was not exactly light.

The ponies had started to walk out of the palace's front door, all with somber expressions on their faces as they carried Cadance's remains back to the town square. This caught the attention of the citizens, who had questioned the actions of these ponies.

"Do not be on alert, people of the Mernallian Empire, as King Morior has been defeated, and is now dead and gone" Twilight proclaimed, much to the enjoyment of the citizens.

"But...he was not the only casualty..." she continued, as the citizens gazed upon the the pony hidden underneath one of Morior's capes, that he had never worn.

The citizens all looked at the six ponies along with their dragon carrying the body out of the empire underneath the cape, as they walked over to the train station. Once they arrived, the six placed Cadance in the caboose of the train, while Spike went ahead and boarded the train. As soon as all of her friends had boarded in the back of the train, close enough to Cadance, Twilight went over to tell the conductor they were ready to go.

"Take us to Canterlot, no stops along the way please" Twilight requested.

The conductor nodded his head, and Twilight boarded the front car of the train. She requested to her friends that they be closer to the cadaver, and Twilight wanted to be alone for a while so she would sit in the front, away from her friends. She buried her head into the train's seat and took a nap, awaiting to be in Canterlot within a few hours, but before Twilight nodded off, she decided to write a special letter to Princess Celestia, telling her of the situation at hand.

"Dear Princess Celestia...

We have done what was asked of us, and we had put an end to King Morior's reign as he was removed of his magic horn, turned to glass and ultimately destroyed. But not all went to plan, as Cadance was fatally wounded as she tried to rescue me and my friends. We are on our way to the castle with Cadance's remains, I request we have a small funeral ceremony, just you, Luna, me, my friends, Spike and Shining Armor. It's what she would have wanted...

Your faithful student

Twilight Sparkle..."

She decided to go to the back of the train, as she teleported to the back of the train where her friends were. They were surprised to see her, as she had requested to be alone for the trip.

"What'cha doing here, sugarcube? I thought ya needed your privacy?" Applejack asked.

"I'm just here for Spike. I have a letter for you to deliver to Princess Celestia, she needs to be informed before we get to Canterlot" Twilight responded.

"Spike, can you do this for me?"

"I would love to, Twilight" Spike replied.

Spike picked up the letter, breathed his fire upon the letter and watched as it disappeared into thin air, on it's way to Princess Celestia.

She must know.

Princess Celestia was upon her balcony, raising the sun as her job was to do such. Once the sun had reached a perfect point in the sky, she noticed a letter had bounced off her flowing mane. She picked up the letter, and opened it. Once she had read halfway through the letter, she was left with her mouth wide open, and a stuffy feeling in her throat. Reading that Cadance was caught in the crossfire of King Morior just devastated her. Celestia had looked around for her sister, and once she spotted Luna lying on the bed, she called over to her.

"Luna, call Shining Armor to the castle as soon as possible" Celestia commanded.

"What's this about, big sister, is he in trouble?" Luna questioned.

"No, this is for matters that are personal, now go retrieve him" Celestia replied.

Luna was running out of the bedroom, and off to find Shining Armor. As the captain of the royal guard, he wasn't very hard to find among his fellow guards. After 5 minutes, Luna was able to spot Shining, and she trotted over to him.

"Shining Armor, Princess Celestia has requested your company in the castle immediately" Luna ordered.

"Am I in trouble, Princess?" Shining wondered.

"No, it's matters of personal business, now follow me" Luna commanded.

Luna made it to the bedroom with Shining Armor, and knocked on the door to get Celestia's attention. Celestia turned around to see her sister and Shining Armor standing in the doorway, both confused as to why they were alerted of a personal emergency.

"Princess Celestia, what's wrong?" Shining Armor asked the princess.

"I think you two need to read this letter I just received from Twilight, it's very important" Celestia stated.

Celestia handed the letter over to Shining Armor, who opened it and held it infront of himself and Luna, so they could both read the contents. As they both read, both were just left with blank expressions, but Shining Armor then turned around to face the wall. Audible sniffling could be heard coming from the stallion.

"Are you okay, Shining Armor?" Luna asked,

"I'm fine..." Shining Armor replied, feigning to keep strong, but his facade was not working.

Shining Armor just turned around to face Celestia, tears were visible in his eyes as he just ran to her and hugged her tightly, heartbroken over hearing Cadance's fate. The fact that he had lost his wife to the evil king was just too much for him to handle. Celestia put one hoof around him and comforted the poor stallion, clearly hurting from such a tragedy.

"It's going to be okay, I'll go retrieve the rest of your squad to help out with the ceremony. Luna, you stay here with Shining Armor, he needs someone to be there for him" Celestia told Luna.

"Understood, big sister" Luna replied.

The train was in distance of Canterlot Castle, as the castle was clearly visible over the hill. Twilight had just woken up from her nap, stretching her legs and fixing her messy mane. She took a look out of the window to see that they were pulling up into the train station, so she had decided to teleport herself to the back of the train with her friends. She made it to see her friends were awake, tired but awake. The train pulled to a stop as they made it to their destination.

"Alright girls, we're here. Let's get Cadance and head to the castle" Twilight alerted the ponies and Spike.

They all exited the train car and proceeded to the caboose, where Cadance was lying in the back. They lifted up her body onto their backs, while Spike proceeded to cover her in the cape they took from the castle. As they made their way to the castle, the guards could be seen with somber expressions as they saw the six ponies carrying what looked to be a body covered in a black cape towards the castle, and they slowly but surely made their way to the garden outside of the castle's ballroom, which had hosted the Grand Galloping Gala on many occasions. As they got to the garden, they saw Celestia, Luna and Shining Armor waiting there for them, as the rest of Shining Armor's squad walk over to the girls, and had given the girls a break from carrying Cadance so they could assist bringing her over.

"Twiley!" Shining Armor called out to his sister.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight responded, running over to her brother.

She simply gave him a big, strong hug as he returned the favor, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, showing sibling affection.

"So, how have you been holding up big brother?" Twilight asked.

"I'm alright for the most part, just..." he stopped.

"Just what?" Twilight asked.

He started to tear up, and just hugged his sister again, making her start to tear up seeing her brother in such a way.

"I can't believe I never got to say goodbye..." Shining Armor whispered, fighting off tears.

"I'm very sorry, big brother. But when I deliver my eulogy, I'm going to deliver you a message that she told me before...well, you know"

"She...she mentioned me?" Shining Armor questioned.

"In her dying moments..."

The priest pony made his way towards the podium, ready to deliver his speech.

"We are gathered here today, to remember Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadance as she liked to have been known. I understand all of you have your piece to say on our departed friend, so if you may, come up and say your piece" the priest said.

Applejack was the first up to the podium. She removed her signature Stetson and began.

"Ah remember Princess Cadance by her lovin' heart, since she was the element of love after all. Ah remember being the chef for her weddin' the day the Changelings attacked, she really enjoyed what I had prepared, and that definitely was a moment to remember that not only did ah know that she enjoyed mah cooking, but she also enjoyed mah presence. She'll have a special place in my heart" Applejack told her story, as she walked over to her body and placed a single rose.

Up next was Rarity, who was known to be very emotional.

"I remember the princess as being one of the most refined, but most genuine ponies I've ever known. When she saw her wedding dress that I had done for her, she lit up and that was my seal of approval, I could tell she loved me, and...and...oh!" Rarity whimpered, starting to burst into tears, simply walking away from the podium,

Rainbow, Pinkie and Fluttershy all made their testimonies, acknowledging her great attitude, personality and the moments that really made her and them shine.

Shining Armor made his way to the podium, to give his final say on his wife.

"I remember my beautiful wife Cadance for always being there when I needed her, and for being the reason Twilight was so happy throughout her days as a filly. She would let Twilight have the kind of childhood I had from my foalsitter, but Cadance was one of a kind: A great foalsitter, a loving sister to Twilight, and my beautiful wife..." Shining Armor said, placing his single rose.

Last up to the podium was Twilight, who was ready to give her speech.

"What I remember Cadance for, was being there for me and being the best foal sitter I have ever known. She was the kindest, most whole-hearted mare I have ever known. And even though she's gone, she had left a message for her loving husband. She told me on her dying breaths that even though she may be gone in the physical world, her dying love for Shining Armor, her gracious husband, will stand the test of time, and nothing will ever tear it apart. I know that she would have wanted us to be strong, and be able to continue our days, and enjoy our lives to the fullest until our time had come, she would have wanted us to be happy. And Cadance, if you can hear us, we will live up to your will, I love you..." Twilight finished, placing a single white rose among the pile of red roses.

"Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake..." Twilight sang.

Twilight walked over and hugged her brother, her teacher and then Luna, and went back over to her friends who were waiting to comfort her in her time of need. Shining Armor's squad began to place Cadance's body onto the funeral pyre, but beforehand, Shining requested to see Cadance for the last time, to have some closure. His squad allowed this, and Shining uncovered Cadance's head from under the cape, looking like she was simply in a deep sleep looking as beautiful as she ever did. He gave her a kiss on the head and wiped a tear from his face.

"Goodbye, my love" Shining Armor whispered.

He covered her head back up with the cape, and heard was one of Shining Armor's squad members start to play a song on the trumpet. The song he was playing fit the mood well, as Shining's right-hand man picked up the torch that was waiting by the pyre, and ignited the wooden pyre. As Cadance was being cremated, he simply turned to Twilight who was by his side, and he put her arm around her as they watched the inferno blaze on.

"She was truly one of a kind, Twiley" Shining said, tears streaming down his face, but with a smile on his face, happy to have closure.

"She really was, big brother" Twilight responded.

"I'm just ashamed of myself that I couldn't save her"

"Hey, don't think like that Twilight, you know Cadance did what she did because she wanted you to have a good life. While she may be gone now, you still have a long life ahead of you, so make the best of it. Like you said, it's what she would have wanted" Shining Armor responded.

Twilight simply hugged her brother back for making her feel better.

"Thank you big brother, I love you" Twilight praised.

"I love you too, Twilight, don't you ever forget it" Shining Armor replied.

"Twilight..." called out a very familiar voice.

Twilight turned her head to the left, to see a transparent figure appear, it was the spirit of Cadance,

"Thank you for all you've done, you were the best filly I've ever known" the spirit said.

"I'm going to miss you Cadance, I love you" Twilight whispered to the spirit.

"I love you too, sweetheart. I shall see you again one day, and we will be all together once again" assured Cadance.

As the spirit of Cadance faded into the air, moving onto the next world, Twilight simply looked up to the sky, without a cloud in it and smiled, knowing that one day she will see her again.

She had received closure, she was complete.

She was happy.

The End