//------------------------------// // Silver by Starlight Shadow // Story: Magic of Love: A Twidance Prompt Collab // by ArguingPizza //------------------------------// by Starlight Shadow ~~~ Twilight and Cadance walked together down the light purple hallway, not talking, swimming in their own thoughts. Tears still dripped down both their faces, silent but for the plip of each one landing on the marble floor. Captain Shining Armor was dead. He was killed not by sword or spell, but by disease. A mutant strain of deadly flu that had taken many citizens in the capital city of Canterlot and its surrounding cities. Twilight and her friends had to move to the Crystal Empire temporarily until it passed, the north's cold hopefully keeping the ponies that lived there safe from the virus. They were wrong. Shining Armor had not died a hero's death, Twilight thought, he died writhing in a hospital bed. He didn't deserve that. My BBBFF and Cadance's husband deserved better. "We're here." Cadance's whisper was barely audible. They were standing in front of Shining Armor's office. Twilight stared at the oak door, with the motto carved over it that didn't even register from so many times viewed. Here and now, with her brother dead, the virus became real in her mind. Not an outside conflict that threw a wrench into some plans, but a wild beast, lurking at the edges of her world, waiting to pounce and ruin everything. Something to fear. Twilight took a deep breath and pushed open the door. The office was hardly remarkable - an oak desk covered in neatly-stacked piles of paper, pictures of past captains hanging on the royal blue walls. Twilight only had eyes for the left side of the desk, where the only remnants of her brother remained. The two mares moved swiftly to the desk, Cadance opening the ever-so-important left drawer. Inside was a black box. And a picture with a silver frame. The picture for Twilight. And the box for Cadance. Cadance opened the box with a gentleness that bordered on reverence, likewise Twilight levitated the picture out of the drawer to gaze at it as if it was about to divulge all the owner's secrets to her. Inside the box was a silver horn ring. A Royal Guard present to him from Cadance, he always wore it on the days when she could come to visit. So many memories came rushing back to the pink princess as she examined the ring from every angle. Kisses and light dinners together, and stolen nights of intimacy, and so many more happy times. Her tears ran faster as she submerged herself in the sea of thoughts. Twilight's tears mimicked the other mare's as she looked at the picture. Her, Cadance, and Shining Armor all together, the day before he was scheduled to leave for the Guard. She was still a child back then, about ten, still thinking that her big brother and big sister would be with her forever. Silly filly. There's no such thing as forever. She hunched over to hide her crying. Cadance slipped the ring on her horn, helping her to get herself under control. With this little piece of silver, Shining could always be there with her. It would be okay. She rested a pink wing on Twilight's back, causing the other mare to cry all the harder. "It'll be okay, Twilight." Cadance said quietly to the sound of Twilight's audible sniffles. "What are we going to do?" was Twilight's choked up response. "I...I honestly don't know, Twilight." Cadance moved closer, hugging her little sister. She had to be the foalsitter now. "But we'll work it out. I know we can. Just...not right away." Kept company by two pieces of silver, the two remaining sisters fell asleep.