Storm Of Secrets

by Beware The Carpenter

11 - Lost!

Spitfire had called in sick.

Spitfire never called in sick.

Seriously; in her entire career as a Wonderbolt, Spitfire had taken sick leave like, once, when she was in a coma after taking a class-seven lighting bolt to the head. This morning however, the rest of the team had shown up one pony short, and a note from Spitfire saying she was hung over after hitting the bar a little too heavily last night and was taking the day off.

For about ten whole minutes Dash let herself dream that Storm had scared her so much that Spitfire really had plastered herself stupid; then she wondered if she was daring Dash to fire her after what she'd done last night. Now Dash knew better than to take either of those theories seriously. Not showing up today, was a warning; and a reminder reminder that without her, the rest of the team was unmanageable.

If Spitfire had been leading them, the team would have been on time, and in show condition; but Spitfire had left Soarin in charge, and told him that he could be vice-captain for the day. The team was late, Lightning Streak was wearing her uniform inside out, three people complained about the long flight out here, five of them actually were hung over after the party last night, and to top it all off, Soarin had brought one of his pet rocks with him.

Soarin had missed his hope town after leaving it to become a Wonderbolt, so he had built his room into a replica of it inhabited by pet rocks; one for every pony he'd left behind. Since then he'd added to his collection to include everyone he currently knew, including each of the Wonderbolts. According to Soarin, that morning he'd told Spitfire that it just didn't seem right for the team to go out without her, so she suggested that he bring Spitrock in her stead.

Of course, Spitrock didn't fit in any of Soarin's pockets. He couldn't put her on a cloud or else she would fall through to the ground; and they couldn't set Spitrock on the ground because they were above private property that stretched ten miles in every direction; and since Dash wasn't screwing the guy who owned it, they weren't allowed to be below two hundred feet.

This of course meant that someone needed to hold Spitrock, meaning that person couldn't do the routines Rainbow Dash had picked out. There was no way the rest of the team would push themselves knowing two members were getting the day off for virtually no reason, so Dash made the really stupid decision of saying they would share the rock with everyone getting a turn holding it.

It took five minutes of debate and a vote in order to agree that the person holding the rock would be referred to as 'the rock wielder', (as opposed to rock bearer, rock holder, rock sitter, or rock sergeant). It took ten more minutes arguing about the order they would hold the rock in, and how long everyone got, before Rainbow Dash changed her mind and declared that she would be the permanent Rock Wielder for that day.

Finally Dash hoped they could get down to actual training; but everyone was sloppy. There weren't any impending shows that they needed to prepare for, there weren't any media hanging around and, truth be told, they simply weren't afraid of her the way they feared Spitfire.

That gave Rainbow Dash the even stupider idea that when she called someone out; she would hold Spitrock and try to imitate Spitfire's voice. This lead to Soarin telling her very solemnly that if she was going to speak on behalf of Spitrock, she needed to do the voice right, which was 'almost like Spitfire, but a bit deeper and more croaky.'

It was all Dash could do to resist throwing the stupid little thing to the ground, but she knew it wouldn't be worth it. She could just imagine the questions that would come from that; stupid, illogical things like how could the team expect her to lead them when she couldn't even hold a pet rock properly. Besides, Dash knew better than to hurt any of Soarin's rocks; and there was no way she was going to sit through another one of Soarin's rock funerals.

Now it was almost midday, almost no real work had been done; and Dash couldn't stop imagining Spitfire, perfectly sober, relaxing on a lawn chair on the city wall with a telescope, laughing her head off as she watched Dash's pitiful efforts to keep the team organized. This made it even easier to imagine heinous laughter pouring out of the crayon sneer that made Spitrock's mouth.

As the day wore on, each crackle grew louder reminded her over and over that The Wonderbolts answered to one captain and one captain alone. Spitfire may have relinquished the title due to Dash being that little bit faster, but without her support, Dash's actual authority was worth less than a rock with crayon on it.

………………………………………………………………………………………

Storm was drifting in and out of a light sleep when he heard the soft click of hooves coming up the stairs and stopping outside the door. They paused, as if whoever was on the other side couldn't decide whether to come in or not, then slowly the door creaked open. Storm managed to open one eye, expecting to see Shining Armor's squire but was surprised to see a pink unicorn mare standing over him.

Or was she a pegasus?

Whoever she was, she was staring at him with a look that was slowly shifting from long awaited joy, to abject horror, to deep nurturing compassion as she took in the wasted sight of him. Her lip quavered as if she was about to cry, but instead she lay down on the stone facing him and gently nuzzled his destroyed face. “I came to see you.”

Storm didn't know who she was, but he already had a caretaker, and the last thing he needed was somepony with strong emotional attachments to Shining Armor who didn't know what was going on, “Leave.” It hurt to talk, Celestia had warned him against trying to speak, and apparently Shining Armor had lost his speech some weeks before his spell finally broke.

The pink pony looked hurt but didn't go away. Instead she kept talking in her sad, gentle voice. “Please don't be angry; I know you didn't want me to see you like this, but let me help you. We both suffer when we're apart. I don't care how you look, I love you. It would hurt more for me to leave you like this, and you'll feel better with me to look after you. Let me stay, please.”

She wasn't leaving without more of a fight then Storm wanted to give. If he had been healthier and more alert, he would have perceived the relationship between this pony and Shining Armor and realized his next question was a bad idea, but he didn't have the thought or voice to ask more than what he needed to know, “Who... are you?”

If the visitor had held herself with an air of grace before it vanished now as she drew back in shock and stared at him, her eyes filling with tears. She looked at him in sorrow and disbelief, until she finally croaked out, “It's me, Cadance. Shining Armor please say you remember me! You have to! I'm your fiancé! Please say you remember who I am!”

Cadance? That name sounded vaguely familiar… Storm didn't know Shining Armor had been engaged, but right now it posed a problem. One pony acting stressed out could easily spread, and the whole reason he had taken over Shining Armor's body was so that wouldn't happen. He needed to get rid of this Cadance, but to do that he should tell her what was really going on, and he didn't have the voice to do that right now. “Shining Armor” Storm rasped and then shook his head in denial of the identity.

Cadance stared at him in horror and then jumped to her hooves, fear and pain stabbing her face like her reason for living had just been struck down. “NO!” she sobbed “This can't be happening! You don’t even remember who you are! Celestia said your body would become weak but your mind would be safe. She promised!” Cadance looked helplessly around the room and then back to the shadow of a fiancé who seemed to be dying at her hooves. “I need to get you out of here.” Her horn glowed and a small white portgem of her own floated out from her saddlebag. “I'm taking you to Fillydelphia, you'll get better there, I promise.”

What was she doing? Storm had to stay here and get better; if he disappeared Celestia could turn the whole city upside down looking for him. If this Cadance would only listen for a moment instead of getting emotional and then doing the first thing that popped into her head, she'd see!

Storm focused all the energy he could muster and managed to knock the stone from Cadance's shaky grasp. She spun around to look for it, and as she did so her hoof knocked over Storm's saddlebag, spilling its contents across the floor, including Storm's own portgem. Cadance spied it as it fluttered over the floor and grabbed it with her telekinesis.

“Don't worry my love; I'll get us out of here.”

No; not with that stone! She couldn't think it was hers, but she did. Storm opened his mouth to try to scream in protest but it was too late. Cadance's horn glowed and Storm felt Shining Armor's body rapidly becoming lighter. FOOL!!!!

Author's Note:

Soarin's Pet Rock

Most people wouldn't think that a pet rock could have many adventures.

Most people would be wrong.

Comments

[Misty Spell]

Perhaps they should have kept Caddie in the know. As his fiance she had the right, and it would have prevented this from happening.