When Lightning Strikes

When Lightning Strikes

Chapter Two

"WHEEEE~!" I yelled as I flew around the North Tower, evading the two rather irritated pegasi guards' attempting to detain me.

"Zaiker!" a voice shouted from below. "Come on, Zaiker, you need to come down here right now!" it called to me.

"But Shinnyy~!" I whined loudly over the sound of the wind rushing past me as I dodged this way and that to avoid the two guards. "You're just gonna yell at me again! I don't wanna~!"

Shining Armor groaned and smacked his hoof against his forehead. I always felt strangely accomplished when I got him to do that. Big old, serious face Captain of the Guard, and I just rustled his jimmies so hard that he was beginning to lose his patience.

"Zaiker! I do not want to deal with you right now!" he snapped at me angrily. "Cadence is sick of me always being late coming home because you've been forcing me to babysit you for the past three weeks!"

I slowed down and looked at him for a minute or two, then I decided it was time to cool off and flew down to him. "Alright, Shiny. You win. I'll be good."

"Finally. Thank you. Now come on, you little brat. Princess Celestia wants to see you."

"Big Sunny wants me? Uh-oh. Must have screwed up pretty badly this time."

"Actually," Armor said, looking at me. "This is apparently about something else."

I went over a few options in my mind, then shrugged."Maybe it's about my living arrangements. Maybe she's finally kicking me out."

"Possibly. Wouldn't be that big of a surprise."

We walked in silence for a few moments. Not one of those comfortable, content silences, like you hear in a lot of those stories. We just didn't say anything for a while. Probably because he was still ticked at me.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, I liked Shining Armor in the season 2 finale and the season 3 premiere, which is why I found screwing with him to be so much fun. So of course when he got like this it made me feel bad. Especially when I realized that he wasn't just sort of a character in a TV show here. He had real feelings and real stuff he had to do. Like, you know, spend time with his wife? That thing he couldn't do because I always had him running around? Be the Captain of the Royal Guard, which once again, was impossible thanks to my idiocy? Yeah, things like those.

"Shining Armor?" I finally said, after about 10 minutes of uninterrupted hoofsteps.

"Hm?" He asked, turning his eyes toward me, continuing our brisk walking pace through the halls.

"I'm sorry I'm such a nuisance."

That stopped him short. I actually had to back up a few steps to stand next to him again. "Huh?"

"I said, 'I'm sorry I'm such a nuisance.'" I repeated, looking straight ahead, not wanting to look him in the eyes. "I'm always messing around, getting in trouble and such, and bothering you in the process. So I'm sorry."

"It's... it's fine."

"So...," I started, as we both began walking again. "How is Cadence, anyway?"

"Cadence? Well, Princess Celestia's sort of been showing her the basics of running the kingdom full time, you know, in case anything... well, you know."

He had such a way with words. "Uh, yeah. I know. Go on."

"Well, she's just been really stressed lately. Scared that she won't be able to step up and perform all of the royal duties in case something really should happen. I'm worried about her," he finished, looking down at the floor.

I once again focused my vision directly in front of us and noticed we were approaching Celestia's grandiose chambers. I looked at Shining Armor and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry," i repeated, "You probably wouldn't have to worry so much if you could see her and talk to her more often."

He too noticed where we were and looked back to me. "I'll forget all about it if you promise not to cause so much trouble around here."

We stopped in front of Celestia's large double door and I turned to him and nodded. "You have my word. I'll try to chill out a bit for your sake."

He gave me a sort of half-smile and gestured me toward the door. "Go on, I'm sure she's sick of waiting."

I opened the large doors and walked slowly into the huge, ornate, princess-worthy bedroom. Not like, her study or anything, with the fireplace and the little cushion thing where she writes letters and stuff, but the big MB (that is, uh, "Master Bedroom," in case you didn't quite get that). Had like, 2 or three gold sofas with orange cushions in addition to the gigantic four-post bed with the same color scheme, big sun banners that matched her Cutie Mark all over the place, and her own personal library in there.

"Admiring the scenery?" inquired a regal sounding voice from the general direction of the door leading to what I presumed was a balcony.

"Yes, actually, Mysterious Voice from Beyond. Could do with a little something more, though. Needs, like, a plasma screen TV over there," I said as I pointed to one of the corners of the room, next to one of her many bookshelves. "And maybe a chocolate fountain or some ice sculptures over by the couch things. The whole thing'sjust not overly gaudy enough."

Celestia walked into the room and rolled her eyes at me, a small, at least somewhat amused smile on her face. "Oh, i apologize, I guess i'll just have to find some new royal interior designers who will attempt to incorporate your ideas. On a more serious note," she continued, "let's talk about why I called you here, my little pony."

"Hah! You said it!"

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing, just a thing. Go on."

"Ah, yes, well, where to begin?" she said, mostly to herself, furrowing her eyebrows in concentration as if she was trying to consult some sort of mental list or something.

"Oh, wow, am I in for it," I said ominously. Good thing I don't really like bananas."

She immediately lost her concentration the moment those words left my mouth. It was almost funny to watch her attempt to figure out how to respond to that. After opening and closing her mouth for a few minutes, though, she just sort of gave up and went back to her list.

"Alright, so first things first: Not being from here, I'm sure you'll need someone to teach you all about this world and how it works, correct?" she asked me in an official tone.

"That'd actually be a negatory, Signora Sunflank." I replied. "I knew quite a lot about this world already when I got here, actually. And in the little under a month I've been here I've been learning more and more about it. Honestly, thinking about it, I'm surprised you didn't suggest this one earlier."

She frowned at me. "Well,I suppose you do seem to have become rather well-acquainted with the workings of your new body and home already, but I think you should allow me to appoint someone to mentor you in the more complex inner workings of our world before i send you out."

"Send me out?" I asked in confusion. "Send me out where?"

"Manehattan, Las Pegasus, Ponyville, Appleoosa, or maybe even somewhere else here in Canterlot. Somewhere that isn't here. We did agree on your stay in this castle being temporary, did we not?"

"True."

"That actually covers the second thing i wanted to talk to you about, so I'll move straight on to the third. This one retains to your little... hi-jinks involving my guards and many of the castle staff members."

I grinned sheepishly and laughed. "Uh, heheh, about all that--," I began.

"Keep up the good work," she said, cutting me off. "Some of these ponies really need to learn to loosen up once in a while. Although you may want to tone it back a bit. Get any more out of hoof and we'll be having ourselves riots in the hallways."

I blinked the momentary shock away and laughed. "See, this is why you're my favorite princess. So is that everything?"

She smiled momentarily at the comment, then shook her head. "No,not quite.The fourth and final thing I wish to speak to you about is your current, ah, how should I put this... 'unique situation'."

"I take it this is probably going somewhere along the lines of 'I still have absolutely no idea why you're here and how to send you back home,' right?"

"Well... yes, that is indeed exactly where it's going."

"Figures."

"You don't mind, do you?" she asked. "That is to say, you'll be okay with staying here for until I can find a solution to return you to your world?"

I grinned and nodded fiercely. "You kidding me? I don't really want to stay here forever or anything, but I sure as heck ain't ready to leave yet! I've got a lot more I want to do as a pony!"

"Like what?" she inquired, obviously amused by my enthusiasm.

I stood and looked at her for a few moments, trying to think of anything specific I actually wanted to do as a pony that I couldn't do as a human that I hadn't already done. Naturally, I couldn't actually think of anything at all, so I went with the obvious answer:

"PONY THINGS!" I shouted excitedly.

She shook her head at me and laughed a little. "I should have known."

"So, you said that was all you wanted to talk tome about?" I inquired, redirecting the conversation back toward the original topic at hoof.

"Yes, that is indeed all I wished to talk to you about today. However, if all goes according to plan, I shall summon you in the morning to introduce you to your new mentor. I'm sure she will be happy to meet you. Now you may go, with the knowledge that I will not be available for the rest of the day," Celestia stated as she waved a great white wing towards the door.

"Why would I need to know that?"

"I'm mostly just asking you to please not burn Equestria to the ground in my pseudo-absence is all."

"Meh, we'll see," I replied as I turned and walked out of the door. "Later, Sunbeam!" i called as I stepped out into the hallway. I looked around to find that the hall was rather abandoned. She didn't have any guards posted or anything, and Shining Armor was nowhere to be seen.

I nonchalantly shrugged my wings, feeling oddly privileged to be able to do so and continued through the castle, passing a few servants and guards here and there, most of who looked surprised as they returned my subdued little waves. Probably just wondering why I wasn't busy stealing the royal throne or blowing up Canterlot or something.

As I approached the massive front door of the great castle, I noticed two pegasus guards, one male and one female, coming in from the courtyard, looking more than a little frustrated. As we made eye contact, I also noticed that they were the two guards I was playing mega tag with not even two hours ago. I sheepishly smiled as I walked up to them, trying to ignore their unfriendly glares.

"Hey, guys!" I said cheerily. "Nice weather out there today, huh?"

"Yeah, so nice," said the stallion, "especially since it's been raining for about twenty minutes now."

"Oh. Well. Uh...," I stammered,not really knowing what to say.

"If that's all you have to say, then I suppose I will be taking my leave now," he cut in, scowling at me as he walked away.

"Wow. Somebody's PMS'ing pretty hard today."

"PM-what-ing?" asked the confused looking mare guard.

"Oh, uh, you know, just, 'being angered easily,' I guess."

She nodded, smirking. "Oh, yeah. That's just him all the time, really. Trust me. We've been partnered up for a few months now. If you'd ask me, that guy could stand to be a bit more like you sometimes, Mr. Troublemaker."

I laughed. "Nah, I'm sure that'd just get him in loads of trouble with the Big C all the time. So why aren't you all mad at me for running you guys ragged like he is?"

"Frankly, I was more impressed that you were out-flying us the way you were earlier than anything else. Takes some serious skill to outdo the Royal Guard, you know."

"Skill? I was mostly just screwing around."

"Shush, you. If I say it was your skill, it makes you look better. It was supposed to be a compliment. Name's Storm Front, by the way. You never asked, but I thought I'd tell you."

"Storm Front? Neat! My name's Z--"

"Zaiker. Trust me, not a single pony in this castle doesn't know who you are by now. Well, I should probably go try to cheer up ol' Grumps over there. Doesn't usually work right away, but it makes him easier to deal with. I'll see you later, Zaiker."

"Later, Storm!" I said as she walked away. I turned back to the door, exited the castle, and continued on to the great city of Canterlot, enjoying the feel of the light rain on my coat.

Mr. Gruard (Grumpy Guard) had really made the rain seem worse than it was. It was basically just a light drizzle that felt like it was going to stop within a matter of minutes. I sighed contentedly and began to wander the streets of the city, "ooh"-ing and "ahh"-ing at basically every single building and structure and ponyI saw, earning myself some well-deserved strange glances.

Eventually, though, I finally came upon my destination, Donut Joe's doughnut shop. By now a few hours had passed and I would probably have to head back to the castle pretty soon, but since I was already there, I pulled out the little coin pouch that Celestia had gifted me with two days prior, and smiled at the shop-owner.

I'll take about thirty or so chocolate-frosted doughnuts, please!"

And so I feasted.

I feasted like a king.