FLY ON THE WINDSCREEN
Princess Cadance lived a sheltered existence. Never once had death really faced her, not once did it cross her mind. Until that day, a day when everything changed.
She had simply gone for a ride in her carraige, nobody around but herself. Princess of the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadance simply intended to check up on the happy ponies in her domain. There wasn't much to be upset about. King Sombra was gone now, and the ponies were once more free. They also had crystal manes and tails, which shimmered in the sunlight. The aforementioned sunlight was shining down across the land, making everything sparkle and shimmer in vivid rays.
Color, beauty, life. There was life everywhere. Cadance breathed in slowly, sighing happily as she peeked out the window. Sparkling streets and buildings shone back at her, and every smile shone as well. She could see fillies and foals playing together at a lovely playground nearby.
Cadance watched the fillies play and thought about when she herself was young. She had been confined to Canterlot for her own protection from King Sombra, snatched away before she too could be enslaved. She had met Shining Armour in school, and the two had been best friends for a long time. Those were very happy memories, and Cadance smiled fondly as she recollected them. Those times when they had snuck behind the schoolhouse and made out. Those hours of painting and listening to violin music as a filly. All those times she had babysat Twilight Sparkle and made a very true friend.
Life was beautiful.
Suddenly Cadance saw a tiny speck of movement in the corner of her eye. A tiny black dot and then....splatter. A fly had been hit by the windscreen of her carriage. Suddenly something inside her clicked, something locked into place.
Cadance was immortal, so she had never really worried about death. But death was everywhere. Like that fly on the windscreen, for a start. It had reminded her of something, something very scary.
That tiny little splattered speck had reminded her that Shining Armour, her true love, was mortal. This time with him was completely temporary, completely impermanent. It would be a lifetime for him, but for her it wouldn't feel like long until he became a lifeless corpse.
If there was an accident, Shining Armor could be torn away at any time, even that very night. That's all it really was, a question of time. It didn't end there, either, as Cadance turned back to the window again she looked at those smiling fillies on the playground and felt a cold shiver run down her spine. She let out a small cry and suddenly felt very, very cold. All of those fillies was going to grow up and old in no time. Cadance would soon see them as adults. Cadance would always be youthful and young, and she suddenly felt so selfish.
Forever youthful, forever beautiful, forever alone.
"I want to go home," Cadance said to her driver, sitting quietly for the rest of her short ride. She drew the curtains and didn't look out them at all.
Cadance couldn't eat dinner that night. She sat and stared at her food for the first time and realized that it was dead.
"Aren't you going to eat your lamb?" Shining Armour asked, taking another humongous bite. Cadance couldn't smell the delicious scent that she used to love anymore, she smelled a rotting carcass on her dinner table.
"Why do we eat lamb?" Cadance asked, miserable.
"Why not?" Shining replied, "We're omnivores, after all. We need the protein that lamb provides. That's just how the world works."
In Shining Armour's mind, Cadance realized, he was digging into a succulent leg of lamb, dripping with sauces and spices. It surely tasted heavenly. Any other day Cadance would have dug in herself, but all she could think about was the fact that tiny baby lambs were lining up to be slaughtered and eaten.
Animals eat other animals, Cadance reminded herself, but suddenly she didn't want to believe it. As her dinner continued she could practically feel the hours slipping by faster and faster.
Cadance climbed into bed immediately after dinner, feeling sick and weak. Shining Armour had expressed concern for Cadance's well-being that night, but she had simply ignored him. She just wanted to be alone. She didn't want to talk to Shining Armour, she didn't want to cuddle with Shining Armour, and she certainly was not going to have sex with him that night.
But in another way she felt lonely. She ached for the comfort of her husband's arms, she wanted to be close to his warmth. She remembered with a pinch of regret how they hadn't waited until they were married, and she hadn't even regretted it at the time. Cadance wondered why she suddenly regretted her actions. Taking risks was just a part of life, nothing to get hung up about.
But now Cadance was...hung.
She shivered, closing her eyes and digging deeper under the covers for comfort.
"Cadance...we're home alone."
Cadance could almost hear Shining's voice. She remembered hearing her own heartbeat pound, she remembered the grin on her face. There in his house it all happened, all those tender moments could be located back under his roof. Their bodies came together, but so did their souls as well. She couldn't help but remember how warm Shining Armour was, always a welcoming, soft embrace. Dismay filled her heart when she thought of him becoming cold. Soon they would all be cold, and she would be dressed in black. Alone.
Shining Armour felt like home. He was home. Everything else was cold in every single sense of the word, Cadance could only confide in Shining. She had so much to tell him. Cadance hadn't always been sure that Shining Armour loved her. When that fateful day had arrived, they had both cried tears of joy at the occasion. Her first boy, his first girl.
In a world full of nothing that was all that mattered to Cadance, and now she realized that time was running out. She couldn't waste her time anymore, she needed to love Shining Armour to pieces before he passed on like the rest. Before they all died she would need to love the world more than anything.
Shining Armour's quiet hoofsteps were heard and Cadance suddenly felt the blanket being carefully removed from over her head.
"Cadance, darling? Are you alright?"
Cadance looked up at her beloved husband and smiled gently, but urgently.
"Come here, kiss me. Now." Cadance peered into Shining Armour's eyes and he bent his head down to kiss her atop the head. Cadance reached her hoof up to his jaw, leaned forward, and kissed his lips gently. She opened her mouth, lips parting, and she took a breath for granted.
"Touch me."
