“Come on B.B., it's this way” called Twily as she bounced ahead of Storm who trotted to keep up with her. He knew that she was trying to trick him, but he didn't mind. It was another Saturday and as usual their parents were both working, being his day off from the Academy meant that it was Cadance's day off foalsitting. Instead of wanting to go to the library or the museum (the only places in Canterlot Twily thought were fun), Twily had insisted on going on a picnic in the botanical gardens, “And we have to be there by eleven-thirty” she reminded him for the fourteenth time.
Just inside the garden was a vender with a wide variety of snacks, Twily scooted over and began looking hungrily at the delectable assortment of treats. “What do you want Twily?” coxed Storm as he strolled up beside her, “Dandelion sandwich and a bottle of grape juice as usual?” Twily nodded but said nothing as Storm bought the sandwich, two bottles of grape juice and a crispy apple fritter for himself. “We done?” Storm pretended to leave but Twily wasn't about to follow.
“Wait! We still need that raspberry pie and a bottle of pomegranate juice.”
“Really? That would be a lot of food for just the two of us, and you don't even like pomegranate. Are you sure we'll need those?”
“Well ummm... I'm feeling really hungry right now and it’s been a long time since I've tried pomegranate, I was thinking of trying it again and seeing if I like it.” That confirmed it; Twily had not taken a sudden interest in botany. Twily's mischievous grin widened as Storm happily bought the last items and packed them into the basket she had had him bring for their picnic.
“Where to now?” asked Storm as Twily examined the map of the gardens with her typically ferocious attention to detail.
“We follow the yellow brick road west for three hundred yards, turn north and cross the bridge over the creek, go around the greenhouse and then we're at the rose gardens. I'll run and hide somewhere inside the gardens, you stop at the hedge outside and pick some of the nicest flowers you can find. Then you come inside and find me and throw them at me, and then you win, and then we eat! But you need to give me a twenty second head start.”
That sounded like a very strange game, even for them. “Sounds like fun” said Storm insincerely, with a smile stretching from one ear to the other which was totally sincere.
“Good!” Chimed Twily with a smile almost as big as his, “Ready? Go!” Twily turned and galloped down the path, Storm patiently counted off twenty seconds, and then followed eagerly but as a slower pace so he wouldn't mess up his mane along the way.
Following his sister's directions, Storm arrived at the hedge just outside to rose garden arch where, from the dozens of worthy candidates, he chose a single scarlet rose, stripped it of its thorns and then entered the garden to be greeted by the sight of a radiant pink alicorn. “Princess Mi Amore Cadenza” he greeted with a low bow, “It is an honor to meet you.”
“Please don't call me that” the alicorn asked softly.
“Alright Cadance” conceded Storm raising his head, “I think I'm meant to give you this” he began holding out the flower he had picked for her but stopped short when he saw a whole crown of dozens of beautiful roses, already adorned Cadance's head “Ummm your flowers look nice” he stammered, dropping his own rose.
“Thank you” said Cadance gracing Storm with one of her radiant smiles, “But you shouldn't be so surprised to see them, after all you sent them to me.”
“Did I now?”
“Of course! You sent them to me yesterday along with a note asking me to meet you, and a map on how to get here from the Royal Palace. She's getting better at copying your writing.”
“I know. She's taken to rummaging through my garbage bin when I'm not home, looking for stuff she can practice on.”
“Shall we humor her again?”
“I hope so, she already had me to buy you lunch. Raspberry pie and pomegranate juice.”
“My favorites.”
“I know, apparently so does she.”
“Well then that settles it.” the faint vibrations of a listening spell emanated from behind a nearby rose bush, catching both of their attention though neither Storm or Cadance gave any visible sign they had noticed. Cadance's eyes left Storm's (paining him considerably) to the flower dropped to his side. “Oh what a lovely flower, is it for me?
“Of course” answered Storm, quickly retrieving the forgotten flower with his telekinesis and holding it out for her.
“And you're sure you did not send me this beautiful crown yesterday?”
“Quite sure.”
“Well at least I'll have one that's really from you. Now, where is that sweet little filly that follows you around all the time?”
The purple unicorn in question appeared around the rose hedge, beaming with delight as she saw Cadance take Storm's rose and tuck it behind her ear. “Cadance! What a surprise to see you here!”
“My mail must have gotten mixed up again.” Cadance sighed, “I keep getting these notes asking me to go places, but when I get there I can never find the pony who sent them. I reckon there's a colt somewhere who doesn’t know how to spell his marefriend's address and when he doesn’t see her at their meeting places he shy’s away. Or maybe the letters really are meant for me, and I have a secret admirer who's just afraid to show it yet. Funnily enough I always run into you two whenever I go where the letters tell me.”
“Well now that you're here do you want to go on a picnic with me and Shining Armor? We have your favorite food and drink.”
“Well...”
“Oh please, oh please, oh please.”
“Alright” smiled Cadance at which point Twily began bouncing in happy circles around Storm and Cadance.
Storm walked between the two mares as they made their way towards the picnic area, (during which Twily continually bumped into him, forcing him to walk closer and closer to Cadance). Storm lay down the blanket and began setting up the picnic while Cadance helped Twily catch some nearby butterflies, (so she could identify their genus, species and catalog them in her notebook).
This was the fourth impromptu date Twily had set up between them in a month. The fact that Cadance kept coming told him more clearly than the words, neither of them could say, that she felt about him like he did about her. Cadance loved Twily, but already saw her almost every day, and wouldn't keep answering the summons just to keep Twily happy; Cadance was coming to see him, just like he was coming to see her.
Storm knew better than to try to delude himself; nothing could ever come of this. Cadance was a princess; he was a first year student at the Canterlot military academy, who worked part-time at Donut Joe's, from a common background and with barely a smidgen of alicorn blood. Cadance's parents barely tolerated the idea of their daughter foalsitting Twily; and that was only due to Twily's exceptional abilities and work ethic enabling Celestia to convince them that helping cultivate such a protégée was beneficial for Cadance's education. If they believed for one second that Cadance had fallen for a colt like him, they would revoke Cadance's tutelage under Celestia and Storm would lose Cadance forever. Then again, Storm could barely believe that Cadance had fallen for a colt like him, so maybe there was hope that a pair of ponies, who lived on the other side of the world, wouldn't believe it either.
All Storm wanted was for these encounters to last for a long as possible, delaying the inevitable indefinitely as he savored each moment with Cadance. At the end of each meeting he would always tell himself that just one more visit would be enough for him to be happy for the rest of his life; and at the end of the next meeting he would always think 'one more'.
Somewhere out there, Cadance's bodyguard, Ashaw, was watching them. Thanks to Celestia, she had orders not to come within a hundred yards of Cadance, unless she was in danger, but Ashaw was still there; always watching, always listening and would report on Cadance's activities to her parents. Sometimes the three of them would play a game where they tried to spot the stealthy gray mare, but most of the time Ashaw was nothing more than the faceless thought that everything they did and said would be seen, heard and scrutinized with vigorous jealousy.
Adorable Twily couldn't understand why he and Cadance couldn't be together, and that made her the perfect candidate for helping them do just that. Twily believed the two of them were perfect for each other, and they simply couldn't see it, and had made it her job to make them realize it. The funny thing was that while it was totally inappropriate for Storm to ask Cadance out on a date, for Twily to set them up in an 'awkward' situation and for the two of them to 'humor her' was acceptable. Storm was adamant that he would not lie if he was ever questioned by royal agents, which meant he couldn't give Twily a shred of instruction or encouragement. They couldn't tell Twily that they were really in love, or she might get overexcited and tell the wrong pony. They couldn't act too friendly, or they might arouse Ashaw's suspicion. They couldn't act too cold or Twily may get discouraged and give up. The best thing was for Storm and Cadnace to stay close to each other, and pretend that it was awkward when in reality nothing felt more natural.
It was a delicate game of tricking Twily into tricking them to spend time together, and then pretending to pretend that they liked each other. It could never last, and it could cost both of them dearly when they were found out, but so long as their love lives were being dictated to them by a nine year old filly, everything would be fine.
Storm gave a faint chuckle as he entered the realm between sleep and wakefulness; then, in a lapse of judgment, let his mind wander back to his own teenage memories. The impromptu dates with Cadance, had been about thirteen years ago, what had he been doing back then? While Shining Armor was dating a princess and playing with Twilight what had Silent Storm been doing? Try as he might he couldn't quite put a hoof on it. Storm fought for several minutes, as if struggling through a wall that had been built around his original memories until he finally broke through, and remembered why he had tried so hard to forget his past.
Thirteen years ago he had been standing at the deathbed of Straight Hack, trying not to cry as his sister wept openly into the tangled mane of the grizzled old stallion with a heart of gold who had taken care of them for the last four years. It had been the inevitable yet desperately fought conclusion, after endless months of voracious sickness. Then he had been shouting; shouting at the top of his voice at strange ponies that appeared just days after Straight Hack's death, claiming to be his creditors. Storm had been certain that they were all lying (he still was), but there had been no way to prove it. The false creditors kept spouting all sorts of legal nonsense that Storm didn't understand. What he did understand however was that these ponies intended to take everything, that had been meant for him and his sister; which hadn't already been spent on Straight Hack's medical treatments, that hadn't worked, (and for the first time, Storm was glad that they had been so expensive.)
He should have fought harder for their inheritance, but he didn't understand the legal system and in the end there was nothing he could do. Four ponies claimed that before his death, Straight Hack had wagered an absurd amount of money on a single draw of cards and lost. Everypony knew that Straight Hack played cards occasionally, but he never bet more than a tenth of what he could easily afford to lose, and usually came out ahead anyways. That he would bet Storm and Silver's entire future on a single draw was unthinkable, but it was the word of four adults against two kids who weren’t even there when the game allegedly took place. Storm felt certain Straight Hack would have been furious with him for giving up so easily, but he was still broken over his mentor's death and there was no one else to help. Any hope the siblings had of keeping their inheritance was shattered when, in a fit of rage, Storm threatened to kill one of the false creditors. His words were caught on tape and that butchered his credibility, and so after a long and pointless struggle, Storm resigned himself to losing everything again, if only so he could mourn without having to think about court proceedings.
They were now orphans for the second time, and faced a very real probability of returning to living on the streets; the hunger... the cold... the street fights... stealing just to survive, riding the railroads from city to city (always giving Manehatten the widest possible girth due to the horrifying stories that came from there). Spending his days and his nights trying to make sure his little sister was safe, had something to eat each day and didn't do anything stupid. That wasn't a life, not for him and definitely not for Silver; thankfully there was another option.
While he was alive, Straight Hack had made it a point to teach both siblings self defense; it was something they appreciated all too well after their years on the streets, and both unicorns (especially Storm), had quickly advanced under the old master's tutorship. But an even more important gift their adopted father had given them was the truth about his younger years, spent in a secret army called the Everfree Rangers. Storm was certain Straight Hack had never intended for either of them to join, (that he had made collage funds for both of them proved it); but when the eviction notice came, they had run out of other options.
Storm could fight, and he knew it. Being a Ranger would at least mean a steady job so he could provide for himself and his sister. Silver Thorn hadn't been hard to convince, she said that Straight Hack was the only Ranger they knew, and was one of the best stallions we ever met so meeting more ponies like him would surely be a good thing. They sneaked aboard a train to a town called Ponyville on the edge of the forest and went in search of the Rangers, finding them after one day in the form of a strange zebra named Zecora. Things had been OK until a year later when Silver Thorn insisted that she too should join the Rangers. He should never have let her.
Storm realized that tears were rolling down his cheeks as he dredged his old memories; Cadance's soft hoofsteps came near him, and then a damp cloth began wiping his tears away. Why had he wanted to remember that? It was so much easier to just be Shining Armor.