Soldier of the Night

by Skyfire Storm

30. A Night With Lilli

"So, basically what you're saying is that you prefer the company of some out-of-town mare to that of Lilli's?"

"In short, yes. We've dated for several years, and I love her and miss her dearly."

"Aw, boo hoo. Come on, so what if you have a marefriend already? It's not like she'll find out."

"Shut up, Blizzard." Storm threw him a deathly stare as he begun to consider moving tables, although knowing that the two recruits, Flashblade having left home about ten minutes before, he sat next to would probably follow him there for the sole purpose of simply pestering him further, he decided not to take that risk and instead waited for the finishing bell to ring, enabling him to finally leave and head home. "I like Lilli, as a friend, but don't for once think that I find her hot. Come on, can't me and her maintain a simple friendship without it automatically becoming something sexual? I told all of you so many times that I won't make a move on her, and yet it still doesn't appear to have gotten through your skulls."

"Sheesh dude, you don't have to date her if you don't want to," Golden Gait groaned in frustration before taking a bite out of his sandwich, having attempted several times to convince Storm to go on a date with Lilli, all to no avail. "What we're trying to say is that Lilli is a much, much better pick than that mare of yours."

"Oh please," Storm scoffed, before taking a sip of his soda whilst continuously eyeing the clock at the wall above the doors to the cafeteria carefully, watching as the larger hand slowly neared the number '12'. "Tell me, man. What does she have that Blue doesn't?"

"The looks." Blizzard begun, smirking slightly as he watched Storm's face wrinkle and eyes squint as his blood begun to boil. "Lilli's so hot, the laws of thermodynamics can't explain her. Show me a picture of Blue, and maybe I'll end up changing my mind, though mind you, it's pretty unlikely I will."

"The personality." Golden Gait added, having finally finished the sandwich he bought at the canteen. "Sorry, but your Blue seems a bit bland and shallow in comparison. Lilli's just a really fun, down-to-earth mare."

"Blue's actually quite the opposite of what you say she is." Storm gnat his teeth as his anger begun to overtake him. "She can do things you assholes can only dream of."

"Like what?" Blizzard asked. "Go ahead, enlighten me."

"Well, she's easily one of the top fliers in Cloudsdale." Storm begun. "Earned her cutie mark during a nighttime cloud-busting session carried out during a thunderstorm, at a pretty young age no less. She's also a very talented musician, skilled on several instruments, but most importantly, she's a wonderful, incredible pony who I am pleased to have as a marefriend."

"Your description is a pretty sappy one to say the least. But what else can I say?"

"Come on, man. Those are just a few of the reasons as to why I love her so much." replied Storm. "If you don't like me going out with her, tough. Just buck off and leave us both alone."

"Oh." a smirk flashed across Golden Gait's face as he allowed the words Storm had just uttered to seep in. "Did you really just tell us to buck off?"

"Tough words, Shitfire." Blizzard replied with a sneer. "Especially coming from you."

Truth be told, at that point in time it seemed nearly impossible for Storm to get through to the other recruits, who were becoming more persistent with each passing minute, about why he loved Blue, and as he watched the minutes tick away on the overhanging clock as the hour slowly passed, he came across the sudden realization that maybe these ponies weren't great friends after all, especially considering the fact that he had to swear at them to get them off his back. His heartbeat raised as his eyes skimmed the table the group sat at, observing the stallions sitting across from, and slightly to his right, as threatening and angry glares formed on their faces.

"Yeah, I think I did." replied Storm, before taking a gulp. "You guys got a problem?"

"Hey man, I thought we were friends..." Blizzard replied with a mock pout on his face, before squirting some soda at him from within his bottle.

"I thought we were as well, that is up until you started calling my marefriend out for supposedly being less pretty than the mares you know." Storm spat as he wiped his mane. "Come on, you guys. The least you could do as friends is accept the fact that I won't cheat on my marefriend, no matter how much peer pressure gets put on me."

"Well then, you're a coward, and you're as blind and as narrow minded as a bat pony." Blizzard scoffed, before stomaching the last remaining gulp of his soda, after which he tossed the bottle into the nearby trash can. "It's called polygamy. Educate yourself."

"No thanks, I'd rather not." Storm sighed, as he stood up out of his seat, not wanting to take this conversation further than it had already went and instead wanting to get home as quickly as he possibly could. "I do happen to know what polygamy is. I don't need to educate myself."

"Come on, Stormfire. Be a stud!" Golden replied. "Just like we are! You can have every mare in the world at your hooftips! Don't be such an uptight little shit like you already are and just enjoy life. You only live it once, so make the most of it!"

"Hey Blizzard." Storm narrowed his eyes onto the stallion, preferring to ignore Golden's decidedly stupid comment. "What's more cowardly in your eyes? Preferring to stick with one mare instead of hanging out with five each night, knowing that by doing so you'd end up ruining your relationship with that one mare, or dating three or four mares at the same time whilst knowingly and willfully cheating on the mare you truly love, as well as not being able to bring yourself to tell her about your other lovers whenever you come back home? If you've picked my first option, you're way too immature to understand relationships, and therefore, too immature to commit to one, because the way i see it, that's not what a relationship is about."

"Eh... really, who gives a shit?" Blizzard asked.

"Tell you what, Stormfire." Golden begun. "You go out on a date with somepony that's way out of your comfort zone, just one date, and me and Blizzard here will leave you alone. We'll stop picking on your previous little marefriend and leave you, her 'protector' alone."

"Is that a deal?"

"You have our words," Golden replied, putting a hoof on his heart. "Ain't that right, Blizzard?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." Blizzard shrugged in response, as he raised his hoof into the air. "We have a deal. We promise to leave you alone if you go out on just one date with Lilli."

"Alright then." Storm groaned. "You talked me into it. When should I do it?"

"Anytime you want," Golden replied. "Though do it before Sunday."

"Yeah, you have until Sunday," Blizzard replied.

Uttering inaudible and incomprehensible words of disgust and frustration, Storm stomped out of the weather factory towards the edge of the cliff on which it sat on, as his mind went over what the other recruits had been constantly pestering him about, having droned over about how 'uptight' Storm was and how he should date more mares for at least twenty minutes. Letting out a sigh, he shifted his gaze towards the watch he had strapped around his hoof just to know exactly how long that conversation took, and just as he had initially suspected, the conversation had lasted for at least half an hour, maybe slightly longer than that, for the time on the watch showed as 4:15 PM. Having hoped to leave at least fifteen minutes earlier, Storm let out a frustrated sigh as he gazed at the skyline of Vanhoover in the distance, like always enshrouded in smog, but also in a very thin veil of light from the sun as it slowly set behind the towering skyscrapers towards the distant horizon and as it reflected off particles in Vanhoover's humid air, which still felt surprisingly warm in spite of the city having experienced a thunderstorm of truly massive proportions just around an hour earlier. His eyes scanned the city like a living surveillance camera, which appeared more dense towards it's populated and bustling core of towering skyscrapers, shopping malls, and other amenities, all of which he hoped to make use of in due time as he slowly assimilated to life in Vanhoover.

Yet with ponies like Blizzard and Golden Gait, albeit to a much lesser extent, the process of assimilating to life here was going to be a difficult one. Though he saw them as friends at first considering that they were all recruits waiting to join, it seemed to him that just earlier today, they had shown their true colors, proving to Storm that they were nothing but womanizing jerks, who, being too narrow-minded to realize that Storm already had a marefriend of his own were instead constantly bothering him about getting a new marefriend during his time in Vanhoover, even going as far as to say that if he did get one, Blue would never find out. Declining their proposition, at first as respectfully as possible trying at all costs to remain civil and polite, Storm was instead met with the notion that he was an 'uptight little shit', according to Golden Gait. Storm, was in fact, anything but uptight; he was noted to be among the small circle of friends he had at Cloudsdale as being quite a fun, talkative guy who liked to let loose, but was also quick to anger, especially when somepony he loved or cared about was being harassed or badmouthed by other ponies, especially ponies like these. Though they weren't harassing her directly, a surge of anger still overwhelmed Storm as he was forced to listen to their narrow-minded complaints about Blue, as well as the arguments they threw at him about why she wasn't a good marefriend in their eyes. Had they been outside, he would have most likely been pushed to his absolute limit, something that couldn't had happened to him within the confines of the cafeteria as it more than likely would have ended with him getting kicked out of the factory and sent home if a brawl between them did in fact, break out.

His anger and resentment towards the stallions still sitting in the cafeteria slowly subsided after a while, followed by an overbearing sadness and longing to be back home, a feeling that he had very rarely, if ever experienced before in his life. But maybe, as he came to the realization that he was over two thousand miles away from his childhood home, as well as the few friends he made during his high school years had they not moved themselves in the time he had been away for, especially his marefriend, he realized the feeling was a pretty valid one.

"Oh, Blue..." he sighed as he stared down the edge of the cliff, which was at least a couple hundred feet high towards a patch of woodland bypassed by a busy road, as of yet remaining untouched by the constantly developing city which spread outward from it's core at the coast. "I miss you so much."

"Hey."

"Huh?" his head shot up and he turned to his side. "What are you doing here, Lilli?"

"Well, I just saw you standing over here and decided to ask you about why you were here." she shrugged. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Storm lied, before gazing towards the city in the distance. "Really."

"You don't seem very fine to me..."

"Just had a long day at work."

Shoot, another lie.

"Come on, Storm." she pleaded. "You can tell me. After all, we are friends."

"Well..." he paused before letting out a sigh. After drawing in a quick breath, he continued. "I just miss home, y'know."

"I see.." Lilli nodded sympathetically, before resting her hoof on his shoulder. "Who do you have back there?"

"My mom, my sister, my brother, my dad... my marefriend."

"Well..." she replied. "I'm certain they all miss you and would love to see you again."

"How can you be so sure?" Storm inquired.

"I don't know." Lilli replied. "Maybe it's just that familial love... The love of a mother, that of a father, the longing of siblings for another member of their kin to return. It's pretty beautiful if you think about it."

"That's nice and all, but I think I told you already about my dad."

"Stop it." she shook her head in mock frustration. "He misses you too. Don't deny it."

"Yeah, well, if he really did, he'd have sent me a letter, he'd have attempted to reach me." Storm explained, knowing that out of the few weekly letters he had received so far from his family, as well as from Blue, none of them listed High Wind as a sender.

"You mean, he hasn't tried communicating with you since you've arrived?"

"Nope."

"Oh." her ears pined down. "Well then, I'm sure he still misses you."

"I highly doubt that." Storm sighed, before outstretching his wings like a bird of prey. "Though I'm enjoying my time here, I just don't feel very much at home. Maybe it'll take some time, but I'll more than likely get used to it."

"Storm..." Lilli paused for a moment, before getting a hold of herself. "I think I know what could cheer you up."

"Yeah?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Me and my two friends are going out to catch a movie at the theater." she begun. "Another mare, Moonlight, was also supposed to come, but unfortunately she ended up falling ill with the feather flu."

"Ugh, that sucks."

"Yeah..." Lilli let out a sigh. "And so we have a spare ticket available and I was just wondering whether or not you want to come."

"I don't know..."

"Come on, it'll be fun! It's one of the highest grossing movies of the summer!"

"Uh, what movie is it?" Storm inquired as he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure it's called 'Midnight Love'." Lilli explained. "It's one of those rom coms that have been really, really popular at the box office lately."

"Oh, yeah. I've heard of that." Storm replied. "Its that romance film starring Flashing Lights and Bright Star, right?"

"Yep."

"Yeah." Storm grinned. "Finally got something right. Though I didn't really get a chance to see it."

"I heard it's a really good movie though. So, what would you say?"

"Alright then." Storm nodded.

"Excellent!" she smiled. "It starts at 8:30 PM."

"Where abouts do I meet you and your friends?" he inquired, as a small breeze picked up his bangs.

"We can meet you at the train station here at about 8-ish." Lilli explained. "There's a movie theater here in Silverwood. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good." Storm nodded. "I'm sure I'll enjoy it."

"Do you have a phone?"

"Yeah, hold on, it's in my saddlebag." Storm responded by taking off his saddlebag and placing it onto the ground, before opening it and unzipping it. "Yeah, here it is."

"What's your phone number?" she asked as she stared at the small, rectangular device in Storm's hooves. "How about I just give you mine?"

"Sure." Storm smiled, before she told him her number and he typed it into his cell phone.

The train from Downtown Vanhoover barreled down the railroad towards the western outskirts and suburbs of town, bound for the city of Lakeside, located fifty miles to the east in the mountainous valley which flanked the city and the other coastal communities in the province. Sitting in one of the front cars, which was surprisingly more or less vacant, Storm stared out of the window he sat beside, watching as the train passed through several suburban areas, comprised mostly of housing and various small yet thriving businesses, interspersed with areas of patchy woodland as it traveled down an elevated track.

His phone suddenly rang. Pulling it out from within his saddlebag, he looked down upon the device for a second before answering it.

Hey Storm.

"Hey Lilli." he smiled. "I'm just on my way right now. Just passed Filliburne Station."

Excellent! Sounds like you'll be in Silverwood by around eight.

"Yep." he nodded, before turning to look out of the window at the sun beginning to creep down towards the distant horizon. "Are you there?"

The three of us are, yes.

"Sweet." he replied. "I'll be there in a moment. Alright then, I'll see you all in a bit."

Bye. See you in a bit.

"Yeah," he smiled, as he hung up and the logo of Storm's cell phone provider appeared on the small screen in place of the call menu. "See you later."

Sliding the phone back into the saddlebag, Storm attempted to make himself as comfortable as possible during the ten minutes he still had aboard the train before it reached Silverwood on the western fringe of the city. He turned to gaze out of the window, thinking about nothing in particular as countless homes as well as other types of buildings zoomed by, before the train passed over a fairly busy road, the Coltumbian Highway, a section of the much larger Western Highway from Vanhoover to Los Pegasus about 1,500, maybe 2,000 miles south spanning the length of the province. The train then entered another area of thick woodland, before all went dark for a few seconds as it passed through a tunnel, before shooting past more buildings, inching ever closer to Silverwood with each passing second as it traveled down the line at at least 70 miles an hour.

The train pulled into Silverwood just before six, and Storm stepped out of the car he sat in onto the platform, where Lilli and her two friends, both Pegasus mares waited next to the vending machines in front of the door to one of the restrooms.

"Storm!" Lilli grinned as she noticed him trudging along the platform. "Nice to see you could make it."

"Yeah, hey," Storm nodded with a smile. "Who are your friends?"

Lilli proceeded to introduce him to the two mares, one a lavender Pegasus an inch or so shorter than he himself was by the name of Star, the other being a tan mare with an Auburn mane by the name of Lightbeam.

"So, how did you both meet up?" asked Star, as they walked down the stairwell to street level.

"Well..." Lilli began. "It's a long story, but I'm sure we'll be able to save it for when we get back."

"Whereabouts are you from anyways, Storm?" inquired Lightbeam, a curious look having formed on her face.

"Cloudsdale." Storm replied.

"That's so awesome." Star smiled. "Did you know Lilli is going to study there?"

"Yeah." Lightbeam replied. "What was it like living in a city made entirely out of cloud?"

"I really enjoyed it." Storm replied. "Though I'm sure Vanhoover has just as much to offer."

"What exactly made you leave?"

"Uh..." Storm replied. "Well, I'm sorry but this isn't exactly a question I'm comfortable with answering right now. Sorry, Star."

"It's fine." Star smiled understandingly. "I guess it must be something pretty personal, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Storm nodded, desperately trying to switch the topic of the conversation to something more upbeat. "Anyways, what are your favorite genres of film? I personally really love me some science fiction. What about you guys?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, type of film."

"Well," begun Star. "I'm a fan of romance."

"I like anything with a little kick in it, y'know? As in, horror, action, science fiction...," Lightbeam replied. "I used to be part of the film club in high school, so I'm kind of a huge nerd when it comes to these things."

"What about you, Lilli?" Storm asked.

"I like this genre perhaps the most. I don't exactly know what it is about it that I like so much though," Lilli replied, before leaning in to whisper in Storm's ear. "Also, sorry if you're being overwhelmed with questions right now. My friends can get quite...loud."

"It's fine." Storm replied. "Truth be told, I legitimately don't mind it. Kinda been needing the company lately."

"That's what you're here for, isn't it?" Lilli asked, nudging him playfully. "So, how have you been enjoying Vanhoover so far?"

"So far, it's been great." Storm replied. "Surprisingly better than I've initially expected it to be."

"Met any interesting ponies?" asked Star, before they turned left and crossed the road at the crosswalk.

"A few." Storm noted, taking into account the names of the recruits he used to hang out with, though not bothering to mention their names, for obvious reason. "Though they aren't ponies I'd hang out with on a daily basis."

"So, what music do you listen to?" inquired Lightbeam, as a theater marquee appeared in the distant street.

"Well, I'm a huge fan of metal music." Storm replied with a smirk. "Always been into it, I'd have gone mad if I didn't bring my tapes with me."

"Ooh." smiled Lilli. "That's what my younger brother listens to. He enjoys stuff like Maretallica."

"I generally prefer more artsy metal, like prog metal or power metal, to thrash." Storm replied as they arrived at the ticket booth beneath the marquee, his reply getting hold of Lilli's attention and interest. "I just love doing air guitar to bands like Dragonwing, dunno if you’ve heard of them, plus it just makes me feel awesome after listening. What kind of music do you all listen to?"

"Hold on." Lilli replied as she set her saddlebag down on the ground in front of the ticket booth, before pulling out four tickets from within it and passing them to the mare who sat at the counter.

"So, that's four tickets for Midnight Love?" inquired the earth pony mare sat at the counter.

"Yeah." smiled Lilli, watching as the mare took account of everypony standing in front or her, especially Storm who stood out mostly due to his height.

"Alright then." the mare at the box office smiled a satisfied smile. "Enjoy your movie, you four. It's screen 4."

Having entered the theater, the four ponies made their way through the lobby towards screen 4, and while Star and Lightbeam were busy discussing something of importance to them and giggling amongst themselves, Lilli saw this as a chance to talk to Storm.

"So," she began, glancing up at the slightly taller stallion to her right. "You say you're a fan of progressive rock?"

"Yeah." Storm smiled down at her. "I'm a massive music nerd, what more can I say? My older brother works at a music store and introduced me to some of the genre's finest."

"Oh, nothing nothing." Lilli returned the smile. "I'm a fan of it too, especially the band Dream Theater, which is perhaps my favorite metal band period."

"Oh my gosh, I love Dream Theater. Mike Portneigh is a monster on drums, and have you heard the Pertruchay guitar solo on Octavarium?"

"It's amazing, I know." Lilli chuckled. "What about the song Metropolis Part I, the one with that wonderful solo section?"

"That's a really great track. Lots of time signature changes, but nothing in my opinion compares to the track The Dance of Eternity. From what I know, somepony managed to count 126 time signature changes in that one song alone."

"Woah."

"Yeah," Storm laughed wryly. "That song is so difficult to master, it almost made me quit playing drums at one point. I had to play the entire thing on drums for a music exam I had not long ago at school, and the nuances and intricacies of that rhythm literally fried my brain. I'm pretty sure I needed counseling after I performed that..."

"You played the drums?" Lilli gasped. "That is amazing."

"Hay yeah." Storm smirked, as they approached the food counter, at which a stallion was tending to a married couple. "I'm not great at them though. Much prefer the bass guitar, though I'm not great at that either."

"Still, that is pretty impressive if you ask me." Lilli grinned. He's not just handsome... he's also a musician too.

"You never struck me as a metalhead, Lilli." Storm let out a chuckle.

"Yeah, I love metal." Lilli replied. "I have tons of metal cassettes and CDs at home, but that doesn't mean I don't listen to anything else. I'm also a fan of punk rock, as well as lighter types of rock such as pop rock or alt rock. In fact, the alt/indie band Saturday Night, is one of my favorite music groups of all time."

By then, the married couple, as well as Lilli's two other friends, had been served with popcorn and drinks.

"So, what are you two getting?" asked the stallion, his pupils shifting from the two friends standing in front of the counter to the soda machine next to where he stood.

Pulling out her debit card from within her purse, Lilli was the first to get served.

"I'd like a regular soda and regular popcorn to go with it." She replied, watching as the stallion got to work with preparing her snacks. "Storm?"

"I'll just have a regular soda." Storm replied, receiving a nod from the stallion, who begun to fill an empty cup with soda from the machine.

"Are you sure?" Lilli raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, positive." Storm replied. "I had pizza before I left, so I'm not that hungry."

"Alright then."

He then proceeded to sift through his saddlebag, looking for his wallet, but instead, Lilli offered to pay for everypony's snacks.

"I'll probably never get used to that." Storm muttered with a smirk on his face, being more accustomed to paying for both himself and any company. "What was that for?"

"Just a friend helping a friend." Lilli then proceeded to pick up her drink and her popcorn, which she was able to hold despite it being hard to do so. "So, you guys ready?"

"Yep!"

"Yeah!"

"Uh, I guess." Storm nodded as they stepped into the auditorium, just as it turned 20 past 9. "You didn't have to do that, Lilli." he walked up to her.

"Why not?"

"It was nice of you, but I could've paid for it myself."

"Storm, please." replied Lilli. "It's perfectly fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." she smiled at him as they walked through the open door into the darkness of the auditorium, in which several commercials, which would be followed by movie trailers and teasers later on, were projected onto the screen.

"Sorry, I'm just used to paying for both myself as well as anypony that's with me." Storm admitted.

"Hey, it's fine." she gave him another understanding, yet somewhat suggestive smile. "We are friends, aren't we?"

---

The film ended about two hours later, and the group of ponies left the theater, beginning to discuss the film as they headed off for their respective homes.

Although lacking many of the modern amenities that local multiplex theaters had this particular theater, The Silverwood, was a seemingly-integral piece of the puzzle that was Silverwood, being a local meeting place for the town's youth and a focal point for film enthusiasts around the area also. The theater — although having opened sometime in the fifties — was specially designed in an art-deco style so as to evoke images of a simpler time for the former boomtown's populace, a time when a good picture show could whisk one away from the trials and tribulations of day-to-day life if only for an hour-and-a-half or two. Lilli had also mentioned that another reason the theater was designed the way it was was for the town to reflect the nearby metropolis of Vanhoover—known across the west coast for its art-deco buildings—with which Silverwood had amalgamated in those years.

As they walked down the noticeably darker street, the sun having set behind the illuminated skyscrapers of downtown Vanhoover, the group of ponies decided to discuss the film they had just seen, with Storm deeming it mediocre, a feeling which was shared by Lilli, while the two other mares who had accompanied them to the movie considering it the best movie ever made.

"Well," Storm began, having remained silent for much of the walk from the theater in order to allow the mares to share their surprisingly vocal opinions on the film. "That... wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly great either. It was just...meh."

"And I thought I was the only one who thought that." Lilli chuckled slightly. "Seriously, while I don't think it's the worst thing ever, they ruined a perfectly good book. Everything was so sappy and corny... There was no substance or depth in the plot, the characters, especially the two leads, were paper-thin and undeveloped, basically it's your---."

"Your typical romantic comedy film." Storm let out a giggle, taking note of Lilli's surprisingly adept knowledge of film as he finished her sentence for her. "I'm guessing you were a part of film club yourself at some point."

"Exactly! The book this was based on, if you've heard of it, was edgy, was hip. This, meanwhile, was so watered down and so sappy...ugh," Lilli explained, a seeming look of disgust on her face. "And yeah, I was."

"Yeah, the book was pretty controversial for its time, or I've heard. When did it come out?"

"Sometime in the nineties, I don't know exactly when though." Lilli replied, as they approached the train station. "Basically, what I'm trying to say is that while it isn't the worst movie I've ever seen, it's pretty low down on my list."

"Same. Regardless, I really enjoyed the past couple of hours we spent together." Storm smiled as they walked up the stairs to the elevated platform.

"Likewise." Lilli replied, following him upstairs. "Do you have your return ticket?"

"Yep. It's in my saddlebag." Storm replied. "It was also nice meeting your friends too."

"They're bit of a hoof-full, I know." Lilli chuckled to herself as they both arrived at the platform, from which the weather factory could be visible on top of the cliff, a cloud billowing out from the towering chimney right on top of the main building. "Hey, thanks for coming by the way. I really appreciated it, I just wish I could repay you in some way."

"No problem." Storm smiled, as he removed his train ticket from within his saddlebag next to one of the benches. "And you don't have to. I really enjoyed myself."

"Storm, before you go." Lilli suddenly flashed a sultry and seductive smile, as she approached him. "I'd just like to try something."

"Lilli?" he asked, a fierce blush growing on his face as she walked towards him. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing...just something I wanted to do for a while, ever sine I first met you. how about this for repayment?" Lilli replied, before reaching out to kiss him on the cheeks, his cheeks both reddening. "I've said this before, but I'll just say it again; thanks for coming along with us."

"Yeah, no problem." Storm blushed, his world coming to a complete halt as he tried to process exactly just what had happened. Blushing fiercely and profusely as though his cheeks were on fire, he backed away slightly, his pupils narrowing down to the size of pinpricks as he realized just what had transpired between them; she had kissed him. "He he he."

"You alright?" Lilli raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Storm stuttered.

"That's good." Lilli smiled, before noticing the locomotive of a steam train, pulling several cars behind it, chugging into the station behind where Storm stood. "There's your train."

"Yeah--I-I think that's it." Storm replied, the blush having long faded from his face. "Thanks for, uh, letting me come."

"Thanks for being able to make it." Lilli shrugged as the train ground to a halt. "Wanna do this again sometime?"

"Uh, sure." Storm replied. "You have my number, so you know who to call. In fact, you wanna catch a movie again?"

"Yeah, sure." she smiled, watching as ponies climbed on board the train. "I'll see you tomorrow, and we'll talk then."

"Yeah." Storm replied, his blush returning to his face as he gazed longingly into her deep, magenta eyes. "See you." What the hay have I just done?

"Bye."

If Blue somehow finds out what happened today, I'm screwed.

Author's Note:

So, after countless weeks of work, I'm back with chapter 30 :3 FYI, I'm pretty sure this is the exact halfway point of the story, which is kinda cool. This chapter was also inspired by moviemaster5810's brilliant story 'Worlds Apart', which you can find and read on this site.

The songs 'Octavarium', 'Metropolis Pt. 1' and 'The Dance of Eternity', which are mentioned in passing and discussed by Storm and Lilli are property of the band Dream Theater, a wonderful prog metal group well known and beloved by music fans all over the world for their technical skill and the complexity of their music. Maretallica, as you all may know, is a pretty obvious parody of Metallica, while Dragonwing is a somewhat more subtle parody of the power metal band Dragonforce, best known for their 2005 hit 'Through the Fire and Flames'.

A huge, huge thanks to my good friend Thunderblast for proofreading this chapter. You are literally the epitome of awesomeness, dude. Thanks so much.

Comments

[HolyCross9]

Okay, Storm REALLY needs to tell Lilli about his true girlfriend before things get out of hand.