Lightning Rod

Chapters

Issue 01
Issue 02
Issue 03
Issue 04
Issue 05
Issue 06
Issue 07

Issue 01

LIGHTNING ROD

ISSUE #01

My name is Rodney Kasparov, but you can call me Rod. I’m twenty-six years old, six-foot-two, 210 pounds, moderately built. I live in Chicago, work nine-to-five as a call receptionist for an insurance company called Prompterra. My hair is a shoulder-length blond. I comb it so it’s separated at the middle. The boss doesn’t mind the hair. As long as I keep it tame is fine with him. My last name comes from Russia, where my great-great-grandfather and his family fled during the Soviet revolution. And here I am, a third generation American, trying to live the dream that my parents before have wanted. As for my direct parents, they live in Chicago on the other side of town. They love each other, unless when it comes the time when the Cubs face the White Sox. My mom is a Cubs fan, and my dad roots for the White Sox. When they face other teams, it’s all relaxed; but when it comes to Cubs versus Sox, that’s when they start to show their ugly side. I never chose which team was my favorite. As long as a Chicago team was doing well, I was happy.

So you want to hear about my story: Well, it all started during a thunderstorm when I was driving to my friend Carl’s place for a jam session. Oh yeah, I’m in a rock band called Neon Unicorn. I’m the bassist, Carl’s the lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Joey’s the drummer with the mad skills, and Steph sings some songs, and she also plays a wicked guitar. We usually play in bars, but there are not many people who come out. I’m just going on, so I will continue. I arrived at Carl’s place in the suburbs and I honked the horn to let him know I was there, and for him to open the garage door. We usually practice in the garage, so that his “better half” was happy. The garage door opened and I got out of my car. I was dressed with a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon t-shirt, blue jeans, and black work boots, my favorite style for a night with my friends.

“Hey, Rod! Get in here before you get all wet.” Carl was calling to me.

“Just gotta grab my bass and lock up my car.”

My car isn’t very great. It was an old red sub-compact that had a max speed of sixty miles an hour, and it doesn’t handle my amp much, so I had to keep it over at Carl’s until I can afford a better car.

I locked up the car, grabbed my bass from the hatch-back, and I ran towards the open garage door. While I was in the middle of the driveway, I got shocked by a lightning bolt.

But I didn’t die. I strangely felt like I woke up. I didn’t know where I was, but I got a huge headache. Everything was all blurry. The first thing I heard was a female voice.

“He’s waking up, Spike. Are the pancakes ready?”

Then I heard another voice that sounded like a boy.

“Yeah, Twilight. Just gotta get the syrup and butter and they’ll be all set.”

Then she spoke to me with a concerned tone, “Sir, Can you hear me?”

“Yeah.” I still felt like I woke up after a crazy night. At least the smell of pancakes was a welcome scent.

“Just hold on a sec. I’m gonna make sure the pancakes are coming alright.”

I got up slowly as I found myself lying on a couch in a room full of books. The floor had rings like a tree, as well as the ceiling. It looked like the place was built inside a hollowed out tree.

I still heard her calling out from the kitchen, “Do you like pancakes?”

“Who doesn’t?” I responded.

“Good,” she laughed, “I know that it isn’t technically the time for breakfast, since it is evening, but I heard of hospitals that feed comatose patients pancakes as soon as they wake up. They feel happier when they smell a piece of home.”

“Wow. Was I in a coma, Miss… Twilight?”

“Nope,” The girl answered. “You just appeared out of nowhere and you were asleep for an hour. You know my name?”

“I have good ears. I can pick up on things normal ears have trouble with.”

“Well that’s good.” The girl came out of the kitchen, and it turned out that she wasn’t a girl, she was a pony: a purple unicorn with a nicely trimmed mane and what seems to be a tattoo of stars on her backside. When I saw her, my mind was thinking “Holy crap” over and over.

I jumped with my feet on the couch and yelled out, “This isn’t real. I’m not in a house made out of a tree with a unicorn that talks, and cooks pancakes, and… holds intellectual conversations with me. It’s impossible.”

Twilight looked at me funny, and gave out an “’Ey?”

When I saw that sound come out of her mouth, I gave off a heavy twitch. The next thing I saw was a purple and green dragon carrying the pancakes into the room.

He spoke in that familiar boy’s voice, “Maybe he’s the one Princess Celestia wrote to you about. The one from a strange world, your first student, that would bring the Element of Magic to his realm.”

My mind went blank, and my frozenness was evidence of it.

“Not helping, Spike.” Twilight reprimanded, then turned back to me. “This is Spike, my number one assistant.”

All I can manage was a small wave.

“I know this is too fast for you to process, but how about some pancakes to digest everything. Okay?” She smiled once she stopped talking, and then turned to her dragon assistant, “I’ll take them from here.”

Then I noticed a dark field carrying the tray of pancakes. Somehow, I felt it coming from the girl’s horn. She floated the tray and gently landed it on the coffee table near the couch. My head was throbbing because I felt her power. I rubbed my head and felt something very wrong. I had a horn protruding from my head. I just panicked. I hopped off the couch and maniacally tried to pull it off my head.

“Sir?” the pony tried to interrupt.

Twilight and Spike just stared at me, rightfully, like I was a lunatic.

“Sir?” Again, it was in vain.

After a few minutes of struggling, I gave up and laid myself on the couch.

“I’m so sorry for you, stranger. Come on, Spike. Let’s give him some breathing room so he can eat.”

They walked into the stairway, and I was left alone, with pancakes, orange juice, and maple syrup to keep me company, so I dug in once I regained my wits. I can’t help but think of the stuff that dragon said, about princess, student, element of magic, nothing was making sense to me. But hey, these pancakes are sure nice. After I was done, I laid myself on the couch to digest everything, both my thoughts and my food. While I was lying there, I saw the fork on the coffee table that I used to eat the pancakes with. I thought if I had a horn now, I can do the same stuff that Twilight did with her horn. So I concentrated on the fork, and I focused to raise it up from the table. My headache intensified once I focused energy to my horn. I managed to then focus it towards the fork, and after a few seconds, I saw a yellow field around the fork, and I managed to lift it up one inch until my head can’t take anymore. The fork dropped and I was cringing. I figured I should rest until this headache is all done and over with.

I woke up in an almost dark environment, headache gone, all relaxed and reinvigorated. I was still in the library for a tree. I looked around the dim-lighted room, then I found a note on the coffee table where the plate was. I used the moonlight from the nearest window to read the note. It read, “Make yourself at home. ~Twilight Sparkle.” I was no longer frightened, but curious. Who was the Princess? Why did the dragon call me a student? And what’s this element of magic? I had no choice but to sneak into Twilight’s room. My search wasn’t very long, since the place was relatively smaller than the libraries I’m used to in Chicago. I found Twilight and Spike sleeping in the bedroom. The moon lit up the study desk with scrolls sitting on it. One was spread out on the table. It read:

Dear Princess Celestia:

It seems my student is adjusting not so well to his new environment. He was quite frightened of me at first, and his new horn, much so that he wanted to rip it off from his forehead, but he managed to eat a plate full of pancakes before he fell to sleep again. He deserved the rest. If I was a pony in his world, I would probably do the same thing he would. Actually, I don’t know how to react. Everything has been a total shock to him. I’ll give him time to adjust soon so I can teach him effectively.

Your faithful studemt,

Twilight Sparkle

I looked and I found another scroll letter near the edge of the desk with a red wax seal and ribbon around it. The stamp looked like a shining sun, so I figured it was from the Princess.

My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle:

I am writing this letter to inform you about a duty that you will have to carry out. I am assigning you to the royal task of teaching a strange being from another world about magic. In his world, true magic doesn’t exist. It only exists in his world as smoke and mirrors and all manners of illusion. His mission is to bring one of the six Elements of Harmony, being Magic, into his world. He will not have a horn before he gets here, He will grow one once he is here, though. He may not adjust well to the horn, or the new surroundings of Equestria, so make sure you make him feel as comfortable as you can. His world also does not have knowledge of Equestria, so try to slowly integrate him to Equestrian society. Your task, in detail, is to; First: teach him the basics of magic, such as simple kinetic spells, light spells, and so on. Second: find his specialty. The colour of his aura will give you a hint on what he specializes in. For this, I will refer you to “Auras: A Reference Guide to Unlocking a Unicorn’s Potential.” And Third: Teach him that friendship is the greatest magic there is. I’m putting my faith and trust in you, Twilight. I know you can do it.

Princess Celestia

I was blown away by that letter. The thing that I thought of first was that I was now a superhero. At first, I felt it was neat, but at the same time, I felt the pressure of this task. It always goes back to that classic movie line, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

The next thing I heard was a “Hoo.”

I was startled at first, but I looked at the origin of the sound, and there was an owl sitting on a perch.

I softly spoke to the owl to not wake up the other two, “Hello. Do you have a name?”

“Hoo.”

“Ah, Who. That’s a good name. My name’s Rod Kasparov.”

“Hoo?”

“You can just call me Rod. Do you speak as well?”

“Hoo.”

“I’ll just take that as a no.”

The next thing I heard was a burp coming out of Spike. Apparently, he burps out letters as well, but it wasn’t rolled up and sealed, it was simply unrolled and flat. It read, “Welcome to Equestria, Rod. I hope you feel more comfortable.” There was a smiley face written on the bottom of it. I compared it to the letters written, and I found out it matched Celestia’s.

“Thanks, Celestia. I am.” I whispered to the air.

On my way down, I looked out the window and noticed the moon. It looked a lot like the moon of my world, but it wasn’t full of dark craters like my moon. It certainly made it look brighter. I continued on downstairs to my makeshift bedroom to take it all in and to come to terms with my new life. “I am now a superhero.” I thought to myself as I fell asleep with a more relaxed mind.

I woke up the next day to find myself still in this nightmare turned dream. I left out a pretty good yawn.

“Good Morning, stranger.” Twilight called from the kitchen, “Come to think of it, I didn’t ask your name yesterday.”

“It’s Rodney Kasparov.” I answered, “You can call me Rod if that confuses you.”

“Okay, Rod. I’m just cooking up breakfast. I figured you would be tired of pancakes after last night, So how do you like hay and carrots?”

“Hay and carrots weren’t what I had in mind.”

“So what do your kind eat?”

“Well, Bacon and eggs are a good breakfast meal.”

“Bacon and eggs… So you’re a carnivorous race?”

“Nope, Omnivorous.”

“Well, I hope you don’t eat ponies.”

“Never eaten one in my life.”

“Well that’s good to know. I’m sorry I don’t have eggs, but Spike usually likes bacon and gems in the morning. It’s his favorite meal.”

“He eats gems?”

“Yup. Dragons have hard teeth that can crush through hard gems. It’s something to do with a carbon pattern that forms in their teeth that’s similar to diamonds.”

I heard a sizzling sound from the kitchen. It sounded like bacon being made.

“Ah, you’re such a wiz with science.”

“I know. I should be getting my horn out of those books.”

“Nonsense, Where I’m from, knowledge is King. One question: can you tell me how science can explain how your horn can levitate that tray?”

“I’d be glad to explain.” Twilight continued, “A simple kinetic levitation spell starts from a signal from my horn to summon protons and electrons and other free radicals towards a certain item, namely the tray. The electrons move in towards the tray and embed themselves within the molecular fabric of the wood. Then, the protons surround the tray, and I let dipole forces counteract gravity, and I have the freedom to move it wherever my mental strength allows. Am I confusing you?”

“No, I took science courses in college, and what you explained to me was amazing.”

“Wow. So I imagine that you are well read as well.”

“I just remember things really well. I don’t study lots, unless I really need to.”

She laughed, “I know some ponies who are just like you.”

We shared laughter, and then I smelled the smell of bacon.

“Mmmmm… smells good.” I admired.

“Thanks.” She responded, and then I heard a louder sizzling sound. “I do my best. Ponies can’t smell it, but Spike certainly can.”

“Heh, do the pigs here speak?”

“Nope. If you’re wondering how I got the bacon, they’re mainly imported from the Gryphon Empire, They’re sold in Equestrian markets for carnivorous species, like my Spike and Owlowicious.”

“Aloe-what?”

Then a “Hoo” came from the kitchen.

“My pet owl.”

“Oh, your owl.”

“She loves raw bacon, so I feed it to her every time she’s hungry.”

“Hoo.”

Twilight laughed, “Your bacon is almost done. Want anything to go with it?”

“How about toast and a glass of milk?”

“Will do.”

Spike came out from the stair tunnel, “Do I smell bacon?”

“You sure are smelling it.” Twilight answered, “I’m whipping up two batches for you and our new friend, Rod.”

“Nice to meet you, Rod.”

“Nice to meet you too, Spike.”

“Spike,” Twilight asked, “Did you send out that letter to Princess Celestia yet?”

“Sure did.” Spike answered, “How’s the meal coming along? I’m hungry.”

“Just making the final preparations,” I can hear Twilight shuffling in the kitchen getting everything set. “Aaaaaand done.”

She trotted out the kitchen with a tray with two plates: both with four strips of bacon, one with a side order of gems, and another with toast, and a bottle of milk.

“Dig in, guys. It’s gonna be a long day for us.”

“Because of training? Bring it on.” I confidently cheered as I took my first bite of the bacon.

“That’s the spirit.” Spike concurred.

“Here here.” Twilight joined in.

“Hoo.”

And so our future hero starts learning the way of magic, but few mysteries remain unsolved. How will the other ponies react to Rod’s presence? Who gave that mystery letter to Rod? All will be answered in the next issue of LIGHTNING ROD!

Issue 02

LIGHTNING ROD

ISSUE #02

“That was a good meal for someone who can’t smell bacon.” I complimented to Twilight.

“Thanks, Rod.” Twilight returned the favor. “I mainly do it all by eye.”

“So when does training start?”

“It’ll begin around an hour or so. I have to prepare a curriculum.”

“Okay, so what’s involved in this curriculum of yours?”

“First, I will teach you the basics of magic. I’ll start you off with basic spells, and we’ll move you up and see what specialty your magic is.”

“Specialty?”

“It’s usually a basic element, such as fire, water, wind, nature, and so on. Mine’s star magic, which is really powerful.”

“I can tell you hone your craft very well.”

“Yes, she does.” Spike interjected, “She was the one that hatched me with a spell.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I did. And that was a day that I’ll never forget.”

The next sound that was heard was a “Ding dong” from two large sounding bells.

Twilight got up from her sitting pillow, “I’ll go get that. Go hide somewhere, Rod. I don’t want to scare whoever’s behind that door.” I followed her advice and hid behind the couch. She went towards the door and opened it with a spell. A gray pony with a blonde mane and yellow lazy eyes was at the door with a package that had a red fabric wrapping, a golden thread wrapped around it, and a piece of paper stitched into the top of the package.

“I have a package for you, Twilight Sparkle.” The pony yelled out.

“Ditzy! What a pleasant surprise.” Twilight smiled.

“Thanks, Twilight. My boss told me I must give you a paper to sign.” She grabbed a clipboard out from his mail bag and placed it in front of Twilight, who levitated the pen and signed the paper.

“Thanks for delivering the package, Ditzy.” Twilight commended. “Hold on a sec, I’m gonna give you a muffin.”

“Gee thanks, Twilight. You always give me muffins.”

Twilight galloped into the kitchen and instantly came out floating a muffin.

“Here you go, Ditzy.” Twilight gave it to Ditzy, who, in turn, grabbed it and ate it in two bites.

“Thanks, Twilight. You always give me muffins. Wait… Did I say that already? Oh well, On to the next package. Bye!”

Ditzy flew away, and then Twilight levitated the package into the library and closed the door.

“It’s okay to come out now, Rod.” Twilight called.

I popped out from behind the couch, and sat back down.

She observed the pieces of paper that were on the top of the package, “It’s from Princess Celestia.”

Spike suggested, “Let’s open it.”

“Yeah, Let’s see what’s inside.” I agreed.

Twilight proceeded to untie the golden thread and unravel the red fabric in one sweep of magic. What appeared were a letter and two books. Twilight proceeded to read the letter,

“My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,

I read about your troubles with your new student. So I decided to give you some aid in teaching your friend about magic and to prepare him to accept a huge responsibility to bring magic into his realm. But I know that he will carry out this new calling with flying colours. I delivered you two books to give to him, and they are ‘A Unicorn Starter’s Guide to Magic’ and ‘Mastering your Element: A Guide for Mastering Magic Specialties’ I’ll visit you and your new friend in a week to see how well he has progressed. That will be plenty of time. If you need more time, I’ll just slow down the sun for you. I believe in you, Twilight.

Princess Celestia

PS: I also have a letter for your new friend as well. He should read it by himself. It’s located in the cover page of the Starter’s Guide.”

Twilight levitated one of the books to me and said, “Well, It’s the Princess’s orders.” I’ll go up to my bedroom and prepare my curriculum. Come on, Spike. I need to get a few books once I get up.”

“Right behind you, Twilight.” Spike followed Twilight into the stairwell.

I opened up the book and found the letter immediately. It read:

Dear stranger:

I know that your brain is such a mess right now, and you are certainly overwhelmed with so many emotions, such as fear, curiosity, loneliness, but I want you to know that I wish you the best with this new gift that you have. I don’t know much about your people, but all I know is that your world is a very dark place to live in. It’s full of war, poverty, starvation and thirst. Do I know anything about you? No, I don’t, but I know this; that you are fully capable of fulfilling your newly found calling. I know it because you will have friends that will help you. Yes, Twilight Sparkle is one of them, but you will meet plenty of other friends soon; some of them being ponies, some of them being your race. There are others of your kind that are living in Ponyville right now, being trained by friends of Twilight’s. They’ll be friends of yours soon enough. I’m writing this letter to tell you that you are and will be never alone, no matter what trouble you face. I hope that’s what you want to hear. Good luck and feel free to respond.

Princess Celestia

I didn’t help but to have a smile on my face after reading that letter. There were humans going through the same thing I am going through. Maybe I’ll meet them soon. But right now, I have training to get through. I folded up the letter and slid it into my back jeans pocket. After that, I flipped through the pages of the book: Title page, foreword, table of contents, appendices, et cetera, There we go, Chapter one: Kinetic spells. The page had a diagram of a unicorn lifting up a weight using magic from his horn, and bold text that read,

“To start off your magical journey, you should be familiar with the simplest of spells: Levitation, and other kinetic spells. To start off, you will need to know what a spell is.”

I turned the page to see another diagram that looked like an x-ray of a unicorn’s head with its horn connected to its brain. It read,

“A unicorn’s horn is connected to his/her brain. The horn can process a signal from the brain to the elements in the unicorn’s environment which can be manipulated to his/her choosing. These manipulations are called spells.”

I kept on reading to get a grasp on magic, even though it wasn’t getting to the point. Then I found the page on how to do kinetic spells.

“A kinetic spell is summoning a field of protons and electrons at a certain item and using molecular forces to move it wherever. It’s easier done than said. Just concentrate on the item that you wish to move, use your horn to send a signal to the item, and imagine it floating. It will soon float. Start with small items, then move up to bigger ones.”

I saw a fork still lying on the table.

“My old enemy, the fork.” I humored myself. “I will conquer you.”

I concentrated on the fork, using my eyes, as well as my horn. I immediately formed an aura around the fork, surprisingly with less of a headache, and then I lifted it, using only my mind. I smiled and laughed in celebration. I moved it around, rotated it, up, down, left, right, sideways, square-ways, any way that I could think of at the time. Then I saw a candle and a holder on a bookshelf. I decided to concentrate on that. I lifted it up with no problem, and I guided it over to my hand. I grabbed it and placed it on the table. Then there was the other textbook. I lifted it up, again, with no problem. I decided to do something interesting. I moved the book as fast as I could towards my hand. I felt like I caught a fastball. I let out a soft, yet painful scream. I set it on the table, and proceeded to randomly skim through the pages using my mind. I also read up on the various stuff I can do, such as moving multiple items, bending objects, and so on. I felt like I can move the couch I was sitting under. So I got up and tried to move the heavy couch. I started with sliding. I was starting to feel a headache, but I kept concentrating. I managed to slide it, then I tried lifting it up. My headache was intensifying. I managed to lift it up by one half of an inch, and then I heard a “Rod?” that broke my concentration. The couch clopped back to the floor.

“Getting warmed up, I see.” Twilight remarked.

“Yeah, you can say that.” I responded.

“Well, I got the curriculum all prepared. Days 1 and 2 will be learning basic spells, Day 3 will be finding your specialty, Day 4 and 5 will be specialty training, Day 6 will be application, and Day 7 will be graduation from Twilight Sparkle’s School of Magical Hard Knocks. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

So I started learning the basic spells of the trade. Everything from light spells, to more advanced kinetic spells, to even self-levitation. It was awesome. She fed me the three basic meals. I didn’t have a chance to eat two meals a day with my work schedule. I got to sleep more comfortably in my makeshift bed at night. Second day, I was mastering what I have learned. I was also learning some new tricks, such as teleportation, phasing, and heavier and more intricate kinetic spells. Heck, I could move the couch more easily.

Third day, we were inside the library’s basement, looking in the book, “Auras: A Reference Guide to Unlocking a Unicorn’s Potential”

“Well, thankfully, this book has a ROYGBIV index, so let’s start at yellow.”

“Right.”

Twilight flipped the pages over to the yellow index. There was a table of contents listing a small list of elements associated with that color, including fire, flower, gold, light, lightning, and sun. All of them were listed in alphabetical order.

“This book comes with a flow chart test, so we can find your specialty faster. Wanna try it out?” Twilight suggested.

“Yeah sure.” I had no objection.

She turned the page over to reveal the flow chart, and began to read the top part of it, “To find out what your specialty is, try lighting a candle. This will be nearly effortless for a fire or a sun specialty unicorn to achieve. If it takes some effort to light a candle, then you are either light or lightning. If you feel over-exerted when you have performed the task, then you are either flower or gold.”

Twilight added her commentary, “Don’t worry. I’ve done this test before. It ended up being between darkness and star magic. I didn’t want to be darkness. The final filter spell was a bright light spell, and I was able to know that I was a star specialty. So don’t be embarrassed when you find out that you can’t light a candle with your mind. You might be named Golden-Rod”

“Heh, thanks for the encouragement.” I said with a hint of sarcasm.

Twilight pushed me on track, “On with the test.”

“Right.” I nodded.

She instructed, “To do this spell, you must focus your energy towards the wick. The aura that you generate will either light it up instantly, gradually, or very slowly. That’s how the filter works.”

“Okay…” I turned my focus onto the candle, trying to light it. It took me around fifteen seconds to light it using magic.

“You feel exasperated?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, not at all.” I honestly answered.

“Good. At least you’re not a flower unicorn.”

“Heh, thank God.” I laughed, and then Twilight brought my attention back to the filter test.

“So the next test is a bright light test. This is to determine if you are a light specialty. To perform this spell, you must exert more energy than a regular light spell. If you find that you are giving great amounts of energy without getting significantly brighter results than a basic light spell, then the next test will prove if you are a lightning or another type. Ready, Rod?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Let there be light!”

I started out with a small light, then it grew once I concentrated harder on making light. I breathed in and out hard and tried to work myself on creating the biggest light I can get. I started dripping sweat, and I felt my head throbbing. After over two minutes of concentration, I gave up. I fell to my knees, totally exhausted. I looked up to Twilight, “So how was it”

“Not bright enough.” Twilight answered, “Let me show you how bright it should be.”

Once she said it, her horn grew very bright instantly. She made the light grow brighter and brighter until it was blinding like the sun. And the thing was that she did it effortlessly.

“Wow. That was amazing.”

“Thank you, Rod. Now for the last test: Lightning. This requires an ammeter.”

“Alright. Now we’re getting a bit electric.” I made a crack at a cheesy one-liner.

Twilight placed the heavy-duty ammeter on the table and extended its electrodes out towards me on a rubber square.

“The test requires you to form a lightning bolt that can generate approximately ten thousand amps.”

“Alright. How does that spell work?”

“First, you must pay attention to the ammeter’s electrodes, then you must generate a whole bunch of energy from your horn, then strike at the target. Easy enough?”

“Okay.” I nervously confirmed.

“So start building up energy.”

I did just that. A bit exasperated from the test, I concentrated on generating as much energy that I can to shock that ammeter. I didn’t feel any headache, but I was still concentrating on generating an electrical charge. Later on while charging, I felt the headache come back, but I was still generating. After another thirty seconds, I let it all out on the ammeter. I let out a lightning bolt that lit the whole room and charred the electrodes. Twilight read the results.

“The ammeter reads seven point three thousand amps. Pretty good for someone who took the light test just before. Funny thing is I forgot to read the instruction on the one hour break after performing the light test. Sorry if you feel overworked.”

I was down on my knees again, trying to catch my breath. “It’s alright.” I breathed out, “It’s a good morning’s workout.”

“Good.” She trotted upstairs, “Come upstairs and rest on the couch. I’ll prepare some lemonade for you.”

“Thanks.” I slowly walked up the stairs to the living room and laid on the couch. I thought to myself of how much progress I was making with the new superpower stuff. I got to unlock new powers I thought I’d never have, and find a new friend that can teach me how to make these powers my…

“Lemonade’s ready.” Twilight trotted out of a kitchen, a pitcher of lemonade and a glass at-aura. She gently sat everything down on the coffee table. “The whole pitcher’s yours.”

“Thanks, Twilight.” I poured myself a glass, “I might not drink it all, but it’ll definitely refresh me.”

“Good. You may need the energy, because we are going to do the test again. I’m going to study up on lightning powers so I can teach you how to do lightning-based magic.”

“Alright.”

Twilight grabbed a few books from the shelf and trotted up the stairs. As I was taking a drink of the lemonade, the doorbell rang, and then I heard a high-pitched chatty voice from behind the door.

“Twilight! Twilight Twilight Twilight! It’s me, Pinkie Pie. I have so much to tell you about the last few days. I got a letter from Princess Celestia that I was going to train someone because I have the Element of Laughter, and then the next day, Boom! A strange being appeared in the bakery. He said that he was a human. I didn’t know how to train him, so I had to think of how to train him so he could bring the Element of Laughter to his world, because his world is so gloomy-doomy, so we made cupcakes, pies, muffins, and all sorts of baked goods. Oh, and we also…”

I was continuing her ramblings on about her new friendship with the human temporarily trapped in this world in hopes I could extract some information.

“… and I talked to Fluttershy about my human friend, and it also seems that she was training another human so she could bring the Element of Kindness to his world. So I was thinking that maybe all six of us have someone to train. So we went to Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, and they all had one. But it was getting late so we all got our human friends together and had a party, and we had a good time. Later on, our five humans were at your place trying to see if you were training a human just like us. So they went to your place and found out that your human’s name was Rod and that he just recently came to your world. So are you training him about Magic, Twilight? Hm, hm, hm?”

Then I heard Twilight from upstairs, “If it’s Pinkie Pie, tell her that that I’ll talk to her this evening. I’m busy researching with Spike, so could you please tell Pinkie pie that I’ll visit her later on, that would be great.”

I had no choice but to talk to her. “I’m sorry, Pinkie, but Twilight is busy researching.”

“Oooohhh, Is this Rod I am talking to?”

“Yes, it is.”

“May I come in? May I? Please please please please please?”

“Sure. Just be quiet. I think she’s deep into her studies.”

“Don’t worry. I know Twilight. I keep quiet when she’s studying.”

I opened the door, and I saw a pink pony with a cotton candy mane and tail and three balloons on her flank.

“Hi, Rod. Nice to meet you. You have a nice horn, like that other guy that Rarity’s teaching, but it isn’t as pointy and long as yours.”

“Gee, thanks.” I began to blush, trying to not let my mind go under.

She silenced herself to a whisper, “Oh yeah, I forgot. Twilight’s studying.”

I sat back on the couch and drank my lemonade. Pinkie sat next to me.

“Looks like you can’t drink it all by yourself.” She noticed the pitcher.

“No I can’t, but Twilight gave me this pitcher so I can recover for my next test.”

“So you are testing? Testing for what?”

“I’m actually learning magic. I’m discovering lots of stuff.”

“Wow. Tell me all about it. I’m all ears.”

“Well…”

And so our hero has discovered his power and he knows he is not alone in this new world. He makes a new friend, and is bound to make new ones. But the burning question is who are they, and what is their mission when they get back to Earth? Keep your eyes on the comic book shelves or subscribe for the next issue of LIGHTNING ROD!

Issue 03

LIGHTNING ROD

ISSUE #03

“…And now we are right here talking to each other in the local Library.”

I just finished telling her everything that I experienced since coming to Equestria.

“Wow, that’s cool.” Pinkie responded, “So does that mean that you’re gonna be a superhero?”

“Probably. Do you have superheroes in your world?”

“We have a lot of superheroes like Twilight and Rainbow Dash. But if you’re talking about ones in comic books, yes. There are comic book heroes like the Super Stallion, Batmare, the Silver Bullet, and a group of three of them called the Trinity, and many others over at the comic book store. My personal favorite is the Blue Flame. He’s a unicorn that uses fire magic to save Manehattan from Dollar Stallioni and his mafia minions, and the Atomic Mustang and his searing radioactive eyes.”

“Interesting.” I remarked.

“Sorry that I’m going on. It’s kinda my thing.”

“It’s alright Pinkie. We all have our things.”

“Oh yes, definitely.”

“I have a bit of a question: Where do the other humans meet up?”

“Almost every night at Sugarcube Corner. We get out around one hour after sunset so that there are no onlookers, and we have a party with all sorts of snacks and punch and sarsaparilla, It’s really fun. You should come over after you’re done training.”

“I will definitely come.”

I heard the hoofsteps of Twilight clicking down the stairs.

“I hear you’re having a nice talk with Pinkie Pie.” She was calling while coming down.

“Yeah, I gained some interesting information from Miss Pinkie Pie.” I stated.

“Just hold on a sec.” She appeared out of the tunnel with Spike holding some books. “Okay, what is this information?”

“Apparently…”

“There are five other humans here. They’re all living at our places, and we are all teaching them about our elements. I bet you’re teaching him about magic. Am I right?”

Twilight was slack jawed. I answered for her, “Yes, she is.”

“Well, I’m teaching this very brown skinned human about laughter. He says that where he comes from, there is no such thing as laughter. He came from a really dark place full of hate, guns, drugs, and all sorts of things that would make you cry.”

I felt for the guy that Pinkie was talking about. The ghettos are a dark place that no good man deserves to live in. I haven’t been down that path myself, but I knew people who have. They struggled a long way to get to where they are. Some of them co-workers, some of them neighbors, some of them random people I run into on the streets of Downtown Chicago. Hopefully, Pinkie will do the same for that man.

“But he doesn’t want to be a part of those things, so he stays put inside his home, not trying to get into trouble. He only comes out to work or buy groceries. He was in something called a car accident when he was hunting for a job. The next thing he remembered he was at my place.”

“Heh,” I had an epiphany, “The last thing I remembered before coming here was being struck by lightning.”

Twilight asked, “So do you think this is heaven?”

“Yes, a bit.” I answered.

“Well, don’t worry yourself too much.” Twilight assured me, “By my standards, you still have a body full of organs, so at least you’re not dead.”

“Yup,” Spike followed, “Last time I checked I have organs.”

“Me too.” Pinkie joked, “Those that are in my body, and those you play music with as well.”

I laughed, then something came to my mind, “Oh, Twilight, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“What is it, Rod?”

“What are these Elements of Harmony?”

“Oh, they are six elements that are really powerful when put together. They are Magic, Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, and, Pinkie’s one, Laughter. They each have something special to offer, but once combined, they can be a weapon that can change the world for the better.”

“Wow, a weapon of mass-friendship, I gather.” I commented.

“Oh yes.” Pinkie charaded, “A cool epic beam of rainbows going zoom straight on target transforming evil baddies back to their original happy selves.”

Twilight was holding herself from laughing, “Exactly.”

Then there was someone knocking on the door, followed by a Southern accent.

“What the hay is goin’ on in there, Twi? I really hate to be left out of one of Pinkie Pie’s impromptu parties. Also, I need to check out a book.”

“Come on in, Applejack.” Twilight shouted back.

The door opened, revealing an orange pony with a blonde mane and tail, tied up in, dare I say, ponytails, with a tattoo of three apples on her flank. She was wearing a cowboy hat as well. She looked straight at me with a smile.

“You must be that Rod guy all the human fellas been talkin’ ‘bout.” She then introduced herself, “The name’s Applejack.”

“Nice to meet you, Applejack,” I smiled, “and yes, I am ‘that Rod guy.’”

“Well, I hope ya feel at home here. This place might be strange to you but we’ll bring our Equestrian hospitality to any centurian being that comes ta visit.”

Twilight corrected, “You mean ‘sentient,’ right?”

“I know what I meant, Twi.” She then turned to me, “I might not have the vocabulary of a wiz like her, but I do one hay of a job takin’ care of the apple orchards.”

“So I take it you’re a farmer?”

“Darn tootin, Rod. You should come by to the ranch sometime. Maybe meet Tim.”

“Tim... another human?”

“Yup. Tim Delaney. He says he worked as an archaeologist or something like that. The main thing is that he digs up really old stuff.”

“Interesting.” I sat back so I could hear the story of Tim Delaney until it was interrupted by Pinkie.

“Ooh. I forgot to tell you the name of the man I am training. His name is Lavernius Samson. He just likes to be called Vern. It’s also easy on my tongue.”

“Interesting. I’ll keep that in mind.” I turned back to Applejack, “So were you going to tell me Tim’s story?”

“Yeah. What he mainly does is dig up dirt so that he can find really old things like bones, scrolls, hay even old castles. Speakin’ of which, he was workin’ at an old castle, trying to find some scrolls to get a clue on what the believed in. Sum’n about religion and stuff.”

I was curious, “So how did he get here?”

“He said the last thing he remembered was something really small like a pebble strikin’ his noggin, then every part of his body froze, then he fell to the ground. The next thing he knew, he was in my barn.”

I laughed a bit, “Now I know I’m not dead.”

“If ya wanna hear the rest of the story, you better shut your trap and listen.” Applejack put me on track.

I nodded, “Okay.”

“When I first found him, he was a mess covered in dirt, and looked like someone who needed some grub in his belly. I got a letter not long ago that I’ll be training someone to take the Element of Honesty to his world. So I took him into our family. At first he couldn’t handle a single bucket of apples, but once I taught him how to dig deep to find his inner strength, he was workin’ hard like nopony would ever believe. He can carry four buckets of apples at a time, and he can pull a cart full of eighteen buckets to the barn. He’s simply amazin’.”

“Wow,” I remarked, “and all he needed was to find inner strength?”

“Yup. It’s amazin’ what findin’ inner strength can do to a pony… or a human in that case.”

“Indeed.”

Twilight was reminded of something, “Oh, Rod, do you feel refreshed enough to try out that test again?”

I was reminded of it as well, “Oh yeah, I nearly forgot about it.”

“What’s this about?” Applejack asked.

Spike explained, “We’re trying to figure out Rod’s specialty. Right now, we are figuring out if it is lightning magic.”

Pinkie was excited, “Oh, it’s one of those fun filter tests to see what specialty magic a unicorn has. I saw one filly go through a test, and she got her cutie mark from it.”

“So can we see the test?” Applejack asked Twilight.

“Sure, just stay safely away from him and the equipment.” Twilight instructed. “Everything is set up downstairs.”

As soon as everyone was downstairs, Twilight instructed me, “Okay, Rod, we’re going to do the same thing as last time. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, build up power, and release it when ready.”

I started to gain energy more easily than last time, but I felt that I can gain more, so I concentrated more and more energy to my horn, and then I looked at the electrode target, but I felt like that wasn’t enough. Then I thought of Applejack’s words of ‘finding strength from within’ so I tried to find it, then I felt a phenomenal boost of energy coming through me, which translated to more power being concentrated to my horn. I felt it was enough, so I concentrated on the electrodes, and fired at will. The energy from the lightning bolt overloaded the ammeter and caused a small explosion. After the smoke cleared, I saw Twilight Sparkle with some soot on his face, widened eyes, and jaw slightly opened.

Pinkie jumped up and down, “Oh my gosh! That was one amazing lightning bolt! There was that big BOOM! and huge flash of light that made my hair stand on end and it was super amazing.”

“Indeed, That was amazing.” Spike admired, then asked Twilight, “What was the max on the ammeter?”

Twilight was shocked, in the mental sense, “Twenty thousand amps.”

Applejack was amazed, “Well Sir, I dub thee Lightning Rod.”

As soon as she said that, I felt a tingle on my shoulders. I pulled back my shirt’s sleeves to see. I discovered a tattoo that looked like a unicorn’s horn made out of three spiralling lightning bolts.

Twilight asked, “Did you have that before?”

I was asphyxiated with it, “No, No I didn’t.”

“In that case, congratulations on getting your cutie mark.” Twilight smiled.

“Umm… what’s a cutie mark?” I asked.

Pinkie answered, “It’s a mark that you get when you find your special talent that makes you who you are. My balloons mean that I am made for throwing big parties.”

“Yep,” Applejack added, “I got my cutie mark for realizing that I needed to be workin’ at the ranch.”

“And my mark is for my great magic abilities.” Twilight added her miniature story as well.

“So you get those marks on finding your calling?”

“Yup.” “Yessiree.” “Yes.”

“So do any of the humans have these cutie marks?”

“Yup.” Applejack answered, “Tim has a stone brick that has an apple on it, because of his strength that he found.”

“Vern’s is fireworks, in all sorts of colors. Actually, all of the other humans have a mark.” Pinkie stated.

“Yup.” Applejack listed the names, “There’s Tim and Vern, the rest of the gang’s names are Greg Angel, Steven Sasaki, and this mysterious man just named Doug. But they’re all good friends with each other, especially Doug. I say you’ll fit in nicely.”

“I can’t wait to meet all of ‘em tonight.” I was eager to meet them all, to hear their stories, and share them mine. My journey here, how I trained with Twilight, and how I got this new tattoo called a cutie mark. This will turn out to be the most wonderful week that I ever had, despite its rough start.

“Oh, and about that book I wanna check out, do ya have ‘The Winds of the Orchard’ collection by Inka Blotta?”

“I think I have it handy. I’ll find it once I clean all this soot from my fur.”

“Alrighty, Twi. You can take your sweet time. I’m gonna stay here and keep Rod here company.”

“You know what?” I suggested, “I’ll find the book while you wash up.”

“Sure, Rod.” Twilight instructed, “The fiction section is on the second floor. Everything’s organized by author’s last name, so you can find it in the B section. I hope that helps.”

“Thanks, Twilight. I’ll find that book no problem.”

“And Spike, Can you clean this mess up for me, please?”

“Will do, Twilight.”

Pinkie just realized something, “Oh… I’m almost late to help out Mr. and Mrs. Cake. I’ll see you tonight, Rod!”

“Will do.” I said as she dashed up the stairs and out the door in a flash. I turned to Applejack, “So… let’s find that book.”

Applejack and I climbed the stairs to the second floor. I headed straight for the B books and searched for Blotta.

“Blotta… Blotta…” I whispered to myself, trying to find the book Applejack was looking for. I found Blotta, with the first name Inka. She had several books in her section, but I found the one printed on the spine, “The Winds of the Orchard” I pulled out the around-100-paged book and handed it to Applejack.

“Well, here’s your book. Do you need to check it out?”

“Don’t worry. Twilight knows me well.” Applejack assured.

“Well then, happy trails.”

“You too, partner. I’ll see y’around.” She put the book in her mouth and proceeded out the library.

I slowly made my way downstairs to lie on the couch. Some of the lemonade was still there, with a few slivers of ice in it. I grabbed my glass and proceeded to drink the rest of the lemonade when Twilight was washing up. With every drink I had of the lemonade, I had a thought of the past three days that had gone by. Even though I loved it here in Equestria, I still missed Earth, my family, friends, co-workers, band-mates, I even wondered how the Cubs and White Sox were doing. After a thirty minute reflection of my thoughts, I saw that I drank the rest of the lemonade.

I heard Twilight call out from upstairs, “Did you find the book that Applejack wanted?”

“Yup. Found it, no problem.”

“Good.” She trotted down the stairs and talked to me, “I was amazed by that lightning bolt that you managed to pull off. Now I’m down one heavy duty ammeter, but it was well worth it.”

“Thanks, Twilight. I have come a long ways from freaking out because I have a horn. I think I now have embraced it.”

“I’m proud of you, but there’s a long way to go until Princess Celestia comes here. But after that wonderful achievement, I decided to give you the rest of the day off.”

“Thanks, Twilight.”

“So what do you want to do, since it is your day off?”

“Maybe do some studying, learn new spells, oh, write a letter to the Princess.”

“Might I give you a quill and paper?”

“Yes, thanks.”

Twilight galloped up to her room, and retrieved a quill, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper. She set it down on the table. I sat there and wrote,

To Princess Celestia:

This is Rodney Kasparov. I’m the human that Twilight Sparkle is training. Indeed, it started out rough, I admit I tried to pull out my newly given horn. I slowly adjusted to life here in Twilight’s library. She has taught me a lot in these last three days. She has taught me how to do spells that are unbelievable by our standards. I thought magic was only a trick with smoke and mirrors, but after my experience, I began to know magic as a fully fledged science. I learned spell after spell until I went to sleep, and then it was back to learning and practicing more spells. It’s been a rough grind, but now I have something to show for it: My own cutie mark. It looks like a unicorn’s horn made of lightning. I didn’t realize it then, but I do now, and that is who or whatever placed me here was right. It’s my new calling to come here to transfer the sixth Element of Harmony, being Magic, to Earth, my home planet. I imagine that there will be enemies, but I will do my best to fight them for the good of my world. I thank you, Celestia, for your encouraging words, and for believing in me.

Again, I thank you,

Rodney “Lightning Rod” Kasparov

And so our hero has discovered his great power, and has a cutie mark to prove it. But what will happen at tonight’s party? What are the other humans’ stories? On the next issue: the other five’s stories! Watch your shelves, or subscribe for your next issue of LIGHTNING ROD!

Issue 04

LIGHTNING ROD

ISSUE #04

It was night time in Ponyville, and Twilight and I were walking in the deserted streets on our way to Sugarcube Corner, with the full moon guiding our way. I was anxious and nervous to meet new friends. I kind of felt like this was a planned friendship by unseen forces, but maybe the forces know something that I don’t know. Maybe we’ll bond together like glue.

“I learned a new spell today.” I talked to Twilight to lighten the mood, “Wanna see?”

“Sure. As long as it isn’t too dangerous.” Twilight replied.

I then quickly performed the spell. It was to conceal my horn and make light pass through it, leaving my forehead looking as smooth before I got here.”

“Nice, a concealer spell.” Twilight gave some info on the spell, “Royal spies use it to make other ponies unaware of their powers.”

“This would come in handy once I come back home to Earth. I know that I won’t be able to use my powers when it’s cloaked, but I need to conceal my horn unless I want to have a crowd with me everywhere I go.”

“Smart thinking, Rod.”

We arrived at what looked like a giant gingerbread house, complete with gumdrops, icing, a cupcake tower, even the gutters were made out of licorice. I knocked on the door, The door’s curtain was pulled down. I saw the familiar pink head and blue eyes peeking outside the window. She opened the door and let us in. Inside, there were sweet confectionaries of all kinds in that shop. There was punch, sarsaparilla, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, and all sorts of delectables. I saw five men and four ponies on a long table, having a good time talking to each other.

Pinkie hollered to the people on the table, “Hey everypony! Rod’s here!”

Next thing I heard was applause and cheering for me from the ponies as well as the humans. It felt strange being applauded for just appearing to people. It was definitely a change up from being a nine-to-fiver.

“Thank you Cleveland!” I joked.

The humans laughed mildly as the ponies were a bit confused. I recognized Applejack on the table, but I didn’t recognize the other ponies on the table. There was a cyan pony with a rainbow mane and tail, and, another strange thing, wings. There was another pegasus pony that had yellow fur and a nice and curvy pink mane and tail. Her mane didn’t compare to the white unicorn pony whose purple hair looked expertly curled. She just looked gorgeous from head to tail. As for the humans, there was a Black man with glasses and a goatee and a red button-up shirt with no tie and black pants. I assumed that was Vern. There was also a well built golden haired baby-faced man with an army green t-shirt with the initials, RAF, written on them. The odd thing about him was that he had golden wings sprouting out of his shirt that is oddly tailor-made to fit through the holes. Another winged gentleman, who was around his fifties with his short wavy gray hair and aging complexion, was there as well, with wings outside of his white button-up shirt. I looked on the coat rack and saw a pinstriped suit that matched the pinstripes of his pants. It had vertical slots cut and sewn onto the suit. I saw a scrawny looking kid who had medium-length brown hair and a bit of a darker complexion, even though his face looked Caucasian. He was wearing blue jeans and a green t-shirt that had a picture of a Viking ship and the word, “Norge” printed on the bottom. Lastly, I saw a man with a horn, just like me, except it was a light blue. He had dark hair, round glasses, narrow eyes like an Asian, and ironically pale skin. He was wearing a blue shirt with the Periodic Table of Elements printed on the front. I took him for the nerdy type, but he was ironically more built than the guy wearing the Norway souvenir t-shirt. I’m glad that I’m welcomed in so quickly. I had to make a more appropriate response.

“Well, everybody, my name is Rodney Kasparov, but you can call me Rod, or Lightning Rod, or just Lightning.” I spoke in front of the crowd of ten, “I’m a twenty-six year-old man from Chicago, Illinois, I currently work for an insurance company as a call receptionist, but in my spare time, I like to play bass in my band. I ended up here by getting struck by lightning while I was arriving at a friend’s place for band practice. And this,” I pulled up my sleeve to reveal my cutie mark, “I earned for totalling my companion Twilight’s heavy-duty ammeter.”

I got a few claps and cheers from the small crowd.

I continued, “I would love to meet you all and get to know you as the night passes on. Just one at a time, though. I’ll just grab something to eat and drink, and I’ll be right over there on that table.”

The nine that sat on the table continued to converse. I heard words such as “Element of Magic” and “Spark” being thrown around. It was a bit unsettling, I have to admit, but it became more encouraging as time passed by. As I went over to the buffet table, the Black man got up from the table and moved towards the buffet, on the opposite side of where I was. I grabbed a very festive looking dessert plate and a glass.

“So you must be Vern?” I started.

“Yup.” He had a smile on his face.

“Yeah, Pinkie told me all about you, about how you live in the projects avoiding trouble, trying to get a job, get yourself into a better situation.” I was grabbing some cupcakes and other confections off the table.

“Yeah definitely. I am fighting hard to get out of the situation I’m in back at home.” He spoke smoothly, not so gruff and aggressive like the rappers I hear on the radio. I can tell he was definitely different from the stereotype of an African-American from the ghetto.

“So what type of job are you looking for?”

“Maybe a job like this one, working in a bakery.” He stated. “I always had a thing for sweets.”

“You and I both, bro.”

Vern laughed, “Pinkie said that you looked sad when she was talking about my situation. Were you in the hood as well?”

“Nope,” I sighed, “but I know people who have. They live better lives now.”

“Yeah. That’s what I’m shooting for: a humble life. I just want to live the dream any way I can.”

“I’m glad you’re shooting for that.” I grabbed one of the bottles of sarsaparilla to pour into my glass, but Vern stopped me.

“You don’t want to drink that.” Vern warned me.

I read the label on the bottle and it read, “Pinkie Pie’s Special Spicy Sarsaparilla”

“Thanks, Vern.”

“Here,” He handed me a bottle, How about some cream soda?”

“Thanks.” I grabbed it and poured myself a glass, “So how do you know you’re not dead?”

“When I was working with Pinkie in the kitchen, she asked me to grab the rack of cupcakes out of the oven. I opened the oven door and grabbed the first two sheets of cloth I saw. I didn’t know it then, but one of them had a hole in it.”

“Ouch.” I was walking to the table where the others were.

“Yeah, but it healed in no time, thanks to a potion that was made by one of Pinkie’s friends. What was her name again?”

“Oh, her name was Zecora.” Pinkie was stuffing her face with cupcakes over at the dining table after answering the question.

“Yeah, Zecora,” He then rolled up his sleeve to reveal a cutie mark with all sorts of colorful fireworks being displayed on his shoulder. “So you’re wondering how I got this. Go ahead and sit down. I’ll tell you.”

We arrived at a gap at the table. I sat first, and Vern followed.

“When I ended up here, I thought I was gonna stay here for the rest of my life, so I was making a living at the bakery so I can make some bits. That’s the local currency.”

He handed me a golden coin that had a head of a majestic looking unicorn with the words “Princess Celestia / Royal Treasury.” On the tails side, it looked like the same Princess spreading her wings to disperse the sunshine, with the year of the coin, 987, and the words, “One Bit.”

“As I went on working for this place, we received a letter from the Princess herself. It said that Pinkie would have a strange visitor from another realm, and that I’m gonna bring the Element of Laughter to Earth. As you can tell, the letter arrived too late. So I had a plan on how to spend all the bits I earned. I told Mr. and Mrs. Cake to take the money and buy a whole bunch of fireworks. When it was night time, and Pinkie Pie was there, I began the fireworks display. I lit up every firework that I can find in the dark. When I was safely away, one of the fireworks fired, but redirected course towards me and exploded point blank. Apparently, that potion Zecora concocted made me resistant to fire. There wasn’t a burn on my body. After that, however, the fireworks show went off without a hitch. After it was all done, I ended up with my cutie mark.”

“Wow.” I remarked.

“And like Pinkie says, ‘That’s how Equestria was made.’”

I chuckled a bit, and bit down one half of a cupcake, oddly flavored like green apples. It was certainly a foreign taste for a cupcake, but it tasted so good.

“So you were talking about cutie mark stories?” A British accent spoke to me. It came from the winged man with the RAF shirt. When I looked at him, he introduced himself, “Corporal Gregory Angel, Royal Air Force.”

I shook his hand. He had a real firm grip.

“An honor to meet you, sir.” I paid my respects to a defender of the Free World.

“An honour to meet you as well.” He explained, “We were waiting on who was going to be bringing the Element of Magic to Earth, and as it turns out, it was you. We heard of the story of Twilight Sparkle, and her five friends vanquishing Nightmare Moon using the Elements of Harmony. Five of the six elements were honesty, laughter, kindness, generosity, and loyalty. The five elements alone were powerful, but with a spark, the sixth Element will be revealed. That being…”

“…Magic.” I interrupted. I gestured to him to continue what he was saying.

“With these Elements, anything is possible. I bet when we go back to Earth, we’ll change it for the better.”

“So your Element is…”

“Loyalty. And my trainer is this fine, blue pony, Rainbow Dash.” He put his arm around the cyan pegasus.

“Nice to meet you, Lightning, and welcome to the Awesome Club.” She extended a hoof to me. I shook it.

“So how did you end up here?” I asked Greg.

“Well, I’m a fighter pilot, and I was on assignment with a friend of mine for a routine transfer of two aircraft from Iraq to a base in Northern Ireland. On the last leg of the trip, from a naval carrier in the Mediterranean to my destination, it was forecasted clear skies across the flightpath. I didn’t know what, a misforecast or a course alteration, but in the middle of the Irish sea, towards our destination, there was a huge storm cloud that was too wide and high to go around. We only had enough gas to get from the carrier to the base, and we were beyond the point of no return. I radioed control center about the storm cloud but I was unable to get through. We had no choice, Once we got in, our worst fear came to fruition. There was a cyclone hiding in those clouds. I tried to avoid the gusts and turbulence, but somehow they were managing to send us into the cyclone. My friend’s jet couldn’t handle the storm. He was forced to abandon it before bad went to worse. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my seat to eject. I went into the cyclone, and I ended up in this world. I knew I wasn’t in Great Britain anymore. I was in Rainbow Dash’s cloud house. I was initially shocked, especially with my new set of wings. I felt lighter than usual. He briefed me on her orders from the Princess to train me in his Element, being loyalty. I shortly got used to this world, and flying with wings. Rainbow Dash taught me how to fly and, the next day, to fly faster. It felt like boot camp, but more fun. I had my meals, and my free time. He was also teaching someone else to fly, a small filly named Scootaloo. He was staying in Rainbow Dash’s cloud house trying to get some pointers from Rainbow on how to fly. He’s going through a growth spurt where her wings were growing to a size where it can lift a pony’s body. He was flying well inside Rainbow’s house. I was supervising Scootaloo when he was outside in the fluffy back yard practicing. She flew too high, and didn’t know how to fly backwards. She was on a course over the fence. She lost control and fell down to the earth. That was until I swooped down to immediately save her. At that moment, I got this.”

He rolled up his sleeve to reveal his mark, two golden wings protruding from the back of a halo.

“So it seems you really are an Angel.” I jested.

He laughed, “Yeah, I certainly am. I’d love to meet you in the future.”

“You can always fly in to Chicago once you have some leave time.”

“I’ll make sure to visit you sometime.”

“Hey, Rod!” Twilight sat next to me, “I see you’re enjoying the company.”

“Indeed.” I responded, “So far, we have an interesting group of people. I talked to Vern and Greg here, and they’re just awesome people.”

“I’m glad that you’re having fun. It was hard for me to warm up to these five, but I found them to be the best of friends. I’m glad that you are making friends quickly.”

“Yeah, so what took you so long to get here?”

“I was chatting with the other unicorn human. His name is Steven Sasaki. He’s an engineer that works with computers and machinery. He says he’s from San Francisco.”

“Wow. Do you have computers in your world?”

“Yes, but they’re a bit too bulky right now. Researchers are trying to condense them to a smaller size so that anypony with enough money can buy one. The thing is that he showed me one that can fit in his hand.”

“A smartphone, I gather.”

“Yes. You sure are advanced in the technology aspect. Telephones are relatively new here, but advancing to something that is portable and doubles as a computer takes a lot of time. I guess.”

“Indeed. It took us around a century to advance the telephone to what it is today.”

“Wow. But back to Steven: Apparently, he got into this world by just falling asleep after a late night on working on a whole bunch of computers, something about a network. He woke up at Rarity’s Carousel Boutique.”

“Rarity?”

“Rarity’s the white unicorn, and she redesigned the shirts for the winged humans so that their wings can fit through.”

“Okay.”

“His element he learned from Rarity was generosity. He assisted Rarity in designing a line of fashion for male ponies. He gave his honest critiques but was generous enough to give his opinion to make them better, even though he wasn’t into fashion himself.”

“So what is his mark?”

“It looks like a gray diamond with a heart on it. He said the diamond was a microchip. He got it when he helped Rarity fix her sewing machine after it got jammed. He works with gadgets and trinkets in his spare time and it was no problem for him to fix Rarity’s sewing machine. He also recommended her to lubricate the parts so that they can run smoothly. And that was when he got his mark.”

“Cool.”

A high, yet distinctly male voice said to me, “Cool? If you’re looking for something cool, then I have something cool to share with you.”

I turned around and there was the man with the Norwegian t-shirt sitting right next to me, being only separated by Twilight.

“I’m Tim Delaney. Applejack told me about you. Oh, and thanks for the book. I’m a bit of a connoisseur of poetry.”

“Well, you’re welcome.” I shook his hand, “Applejack also told me a lot about you.”

“Yeah, and about that cool thing: As you may know, I am currently working on an archaeological dig in Norway. It is said to be a city dedicated to the horses of Skinfaxi and Hrimfaxi, the horses of day and night. Some archaeological finds from the city state that they believed that Hrimfaxi grew jealous of Skinfaxi, because their mortal counterparts slept through her wonderful nights. She tried to make the night last forever for all of the Earth, but Skinfaxi reluctantly used her powers to send her to the moon, which she dewlt, powerless and alone, for one thousand years, as Skinfaxi took over Hrimfaxi’s duties to maintain harmony in the heavens. Do you notice any parallels, Twilight?”

“Yes! It’s the story of the Mare in the Moon.”

“Indeed it is.”

“Sorry, I’m not following this.” I interrupted, “Can anyone care to explain?”

“I’ll tell you the story tomorrow morning.”

“My hypothesis is that some Norseman witnessed the events that happened at that time and recorded it. Archaeologists carbon dated the story’s records to be one thousand years old, give or take a few years.”

“Interesting. The year right now is the 1002nd of Celestia’s Reign. It’s been one thousand and one years since Nightmare Moon was banished.”

“I’ll let you two have at each other.” I lifted myself up from my spot, “I’ll go try to unlock the mystery of Doug.”

“Oh, Doug is awesome. A bit scary, but he’s soft hearted and a kind gentleman.” Tim informed.

“Okay, I’ll make sure I won’t be too scared when I see his scary side.”

“You’ll see it immediately.”

I just nodded and proceeded towards the old man with the white dress shirt. He was eating some of the treats that were at the buffet. He was talking to the yellow pegasus right next to him.

“Hey, You must be Doug.” I spoke to him.

“Evening, Mr. Kasparov.” He had a grandfatherly voice that was very soft. “I’ve been waiting for you to come and talk to me.” He turned to the yellow pegasus, “May I be excused, Fluttershy?”

“Yes, you may, Doug.” The yellow pony nodded

He subtly waved and hollered to Pinkie, “Pinkie, May I go into your loft to tell our new friend my story?”

“Like that dark but super awesome one?” Pinkie asked.

Doug laughed, then answered, “Yes, that one.”

“Okie Dokie, Loki.” She responded.

“Come with me.” He stood up and grabbed his plate of confections. I could tell that this was going to be deep. I followed him through a stairwell that led up to a loft house on top of the store and party hall. He grabbed a seat and so did I. He started to speak:

“My name is Doug. It’s actually an acronym that stands for Diplomats Of the United Governments. It is a secret organization that has ties with the FBI, CIA, MI6, and other organizations across the free world. Our goal is simple: Maintain harmony between world governments by any means necessary. Assassination is only a last resort when peaceful means fail.”

“So what is your real name?”

“If you knew it, I would have the legal obligation to kill you, and myself afterwards.”

“So how did you get in DOUG?”

“It all started when I was drafted into the Military in 1972 during the Vietnam War. During training, I learned that I was really accurate with any pistol that I can get my hand on. I was good with automatic machine guns but they noticed I felt at home with the pistol. They soon trained me in sniping, espionage, and guerrilla combat. I excelled in all those aspects. Once the Vietnam War was coming to a close, I thought I was going to be scoff free. Nope. I got an invitation to be a part of the CIA. I had no problem with being a secret agent for a living, so I took the offer. I went on a few overseas missions to assassinate certain Neo-Nazi sleeper cells, rogue mercenaries, religious extremists, and a few Soviet spies. My last bit of action with the CIA was during the Gulf War when I killed a few paid mercs working for Saddam. After the Soviet Union crumbled, I received a notice from the CIA brass that my services were no longer required, but they pointed me to DOUG. They needed an extra gun. They quickly hired me, and my name was quickly changed to Doug. They taught me every protocol that goes with being a Doug, such as not revealing too much personal data, always state your name as Doug, assassination is the last mean of diplomatic resolution, and lastly, and my favorite, do not talk about DOUG. I might be in violation of protocol for telling you all of this, but the same protocol also states that if there is someone who under your best judgement is an asset to the cause of harmony between governments and the world, you are free to talk about DOUG with him.”

“So I’m an asset?”

“Indeed you are, Rod. These aren’t called the Elements of Harmony for nothing. All of them are assets.”

“So how did you end up here?”

“The last thing I remembered was going in for surgery to install a GPS chip in my chest cavity. The next thing that I saw after being gassed was being in Fluttershy’s house with wings that moved to my will. As an agent, I immediately interrogated whoever was in there where I was. Fluttershy told me where I was; which city and country I was in. I didn’t buy it until I actually saw her. I recalled my protocols about close extraterrestrial encounters, so I tried to figure out everything that I can about this new world. I was amazed by the beauty of it. I got familiar to the wildlife she took care of. It was quite neat how all the wildlife seemed so domesticated, especially her pet bunny, Angel. One day, when I was helping her make sure all the fauna was alright. We encountered a strange creature from a dangerous area called the Everfree Forest. It looked like an exotic bird with a long beak, except it was around nine feet tall with a scaly dragon’s body. We witnessed it eating some of the fauna whole. Fluttershy got upset and urged the creature to stay away from her animal friends. She even gave a stare that I can tell was mastered by interrogators and telepaths. It didn’t work. It batted her with its beak, like a baseball, into a tree leaving her defenseless. The thing approached her and opened her beak. I knew what I had to do. It was the last resort. I pulled out my gun and fired at the creature. It took around five shots in the head, but that was enough to take the bird down. That’s when I got my cutie mark.”

He rolled up his sleeve to reveal a gun with a daisy in the barrel, “Killing should be the last resort when an entity threatens the lives of innocent people. When it comes to it, be sorry. It was just looking for some food, but it was endangering Fluttershy’s life. So I had to do what I had to do. Fifty eight years and that was the most profound lesson I have learned while on these Earths.”

I was blown away by the story, “That was a ride and a half, sir. Tell me, is there any way this DOUG organization can help us out once we get back to Earth?”

“Yeah, definitely. I know the commissioner of the organization. I’ll make sure all of you are protected while we are out saving the world.”

“Thanks, Doug.”

“Now let’s get back to that party and have some fun.”

The team is formed, and primed with the power of friendship. Will they be fully trained before the arrival of the Princess? How will the crew work together as a cohesive unit? In the next issue: Humans VS Ponyville! Keep your eyes open on your shelves and in your mailboxes for the next LIGHTNING ROD!

“…Come to think of it, how did I get into this world with my suit and gun instead of a hospital gown?”

Issue 05

LIGHTNING ROD

ISSUE #05

I was walking back to the library with Twilight after what has to be one of the most friendship filled nights in my history. I had a good time with my new friends and showed them a few tricks that I learned from Twilight. They were really impressed. I was even impressed by them. I saw Tim lift up the treats table with great balance to not let the treats fall, and I also taught Steven how to cloak his horn. We played some games afterwards and when it came midnight, we were treated with a Lavernius Samson fireworks display. His show was magnificent. He pulled off a bit of a stunt where he lit super sparklers that were tied on to each limb of his body. It was just amazing to see.

As we got to the library, I saw a sign that was right next to the door.

“What’s a sign doing over at the library?” Twilight queried. “It looks important.”

“Well, let’s read it.”

We darted towards the sign with Twilight following me. It was too dark to see what was written on the sign. Twilight lit up her horn to make it more visible. I read the sign out loud.

“Her Majesty, Princess Celestia, and all her royal subjects, would like to inform all the citizens of Ponyville about some foreign visitors from a far land. They are called humans.” It then showed a picture of a human, front and side view. “DO NOT BE ALARMED! These are our new friends. If you find one, please treat them as you would anypony. They are on a diplomatic mission to bring the Elements of Harmony to their homeland, so that they can give their land a much needed boost. Any and all questions and concerned should be directed to the Mayor, who has been debriefed on the issue. Thank you for your attention, signed Princess Celestia.”

Twilight sighed, “Looks like tomorrow’s gonna be a busy day.”

“Yeah. Let’s get our rest while we can.”

~~~~~

The next morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn, well except for Spike. We started the day out with a bowl of shredded wheat with raisins and milk.

“So what do you think would happen with all the ponies learning about our existence?” I asked.

“Well, the best case scenario is the occasional pony coming in and remarking, but I’m afraid that a whole herd will come in and see us.” Twilight hung down her head.

“Well, It’s a good thing that we’re eating our breakfast before it happens.” I ate a spoonful after I spoke my words.

“Yeah, but I’m more afraid of the training time we’ll lose.”

“That’s why I thought of cereal instead of the usual bacon, pancakes, eggs, and stuff that you’ve been cooking up for the last four days.”

“I see your logic in your decision.”

“Yeah, in my world, some people need a fast breakfast to take on an early day” I drank the bowl of milk and whatever was left of the wheat and raisins.

“Wow. Your world sounds awfully busy.” She used her magic to lift up the bowl so she can drink the rest of the contents.

Once we finished drinking, Twilight asked, “So, ready to take on the day?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

We walked into the living room and Twilight gave me a book. It read on the front cover, “The Big Book of Lightning Spells.” We went through as many spells as we could, such as charging batteries, sparking from my horn, and so much more. Once I learned control, I gave Spike a shock so that he could wake up. We got a good laugh out of it, even Spike found its humor. When it came around noon time, we were having lunch. I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich, Twilight, a daisy sandwich, and Spike, an emerald sandwich. We heard someone coming into the library. Twilight got up from her seat.

“I’m just gonna help out this customer.” Twilight trotted outside the kitchen.

The next thing we knew after a few minutes were the words, “Is that a Human?”

I turned to find a bright teal unicorn pony smiling and galloping towards me. She tackled me to the floor

“Does he have a name? What does he do? Why does he have a horn? Is he magical? Can he speak? Is he even male?”

“I’ll answer them once you get off of me.”

The pony leapt off of me and squealed, “Well that answers one of my questions. So what’s your name?”

“My name is Rod Kasparov,” I got up stiffly off the ground, “But you can call me Rod.”

“Oh, sorry for leaping onto you like that.” She started to talk with me, “By the way, my name is Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings”

I noticed the golden harp on her flank, “I notice your cutie mark. Are you a musician?”

“Yup. I play a lyre.”

“Cool, I’m a musician too. I play a bass guitar.”

“Oh, I’m assuming you’re a rock and roll musician.”

“Yup, I sure am.”

“I’m more into classical stuff, but I know of this mare named Vinyl Scratch. He likes to play all kinds of contemporary music, like rock and roll, electronic, and pop music. Apparently he’s building a big metal horn. Something about radio.”

Twilight strolled into the kitchen, “Is everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine, Twilight.” I assured.

“So” Lyra asked me, “Do you have magical abilities?”

“Yes, I do. I am a lightning specialty.”

She gasped, “Cool! I love thunderstorms. I should talk to Rainbow Dash sometime and request a thunderstorm.”

Spike came in to the conversation, “I think they’re scheduling a storm for tomorrow night.

“Awesome! I’ll make sure not to miss it.”

“Weren’t you going to check out a book?” Twilight asked Lyra.

“Oh, I nearly forgot. I was going to check out some sheet music.”

“You know where the music section is. I’ll be down here to sign it out.”

“Okay.” Lyra turned back to me, “It’s been fun chatting with you, Lightning Rod.”

Once everything was all peaceful, I continued to eat my sandwich. Lyra checked out her music and left. Then I heard the thing that triggered our worst nightmare.

“HEY EVERYPONY! I FOUND A HUMAN!”

We all said in unison, “Oh no.”

Before we could say anything else, a stampede of ponies filled the library, corralling the three of us into a corner of the library. I heard a whole bunch of things said all at once. Things like, “Cool, I never seen a human before.” “I wish I had hands like yours.” “So what’s it like in your land?” and other chatter I can’t decipher.

Twilight yelled to me and Spike, “Hold on!”

We did so. She grew her horn’s power, and in a flash, we were at Sugarcube Corner’s kitchen. We saw Vern and Pinkie working hard to bake cupcakes while we heard bustling at the storefront.

“Twilight! Rod!” Pinkie stopped for a moment, “What in the name of cupcakes are you doing here?”

I sighed, “Trying to get away from the mobs.”

“Well, we got plenty of ‘em here. Looks like we made a wonderful super awesome batch of cupcakes!”

“I don’t think they’re after cupcakes.” Twilight noted.

Mr. Cake trotted in through the swivel door, “I don’t understand, there’re plenty of ponies, but no one seems to be buying our food.”

Twilight blurted, “It’s because everypony’s trying to find …”

“A HUMAN!” One of the ponies coincidentally answered for Twilight as they trampled cartoonily over Mr. Cake to get into the kitchen. We all exited out the back door of the place. Twilight led us to a building that looked like a blue and pink circus tent. By the look of things, they had crowd problems as well.

“Oh no, Rarity is in trouble as well.” Twilight observed, “We gotta help her.”

I could see Rarity peering outside the top window. We were running towards her boutique, until Twilight stopped. We followed suit.

“All of you hide inside that building over there.” Twilight instructed us, “I’ll go in and rescue Rarity and Steven.”

We went into the building that looked like a spa. We went in and found two ponies that looked like color swaps of each other, sporting neon blue and hot pink.

“Welcome to our day spa.” The pink with blue mane and tail spoke, “My name is Aloe, and this is my twin sister, Lotus. You must be the humans.”

Vern spoke first, “Yeah. My name’s Vern Samson, and that’s ‘Lightning’ Rod Kasparov.”

I hissed at Vern, “What are you doing?”.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Lotus explained, “Almost everypony is trying to find you, but being spa owners and respecters of privacy, we thought better to just leave you be.”

Pinkie had an epiphany, “Oh, so that’s why she sent us here to hide. So smart of Twilight.”

“Can we offer you a spa treatment? It’s free of charge, just for you.”

“Yes, definitely.” I felt like I needed some relaxation after the day that has been already.

After that was said, a huge flash appeared and Twilight, Steven, and Rarity appeared.

“Wow… That was quick.” Spike remarked.

Twilight quickly got down to business, “We need to find the others, fast!”

She quickly opened the doors and ran out with Spike playing jockey. We all followed her to Rainbow Dash’s cloud house. Strangely, there weren’t any other pegasi swarming the house. We heard a yell from a distance that sounded like Rainbow Dash. We saw a faint rainbow streak followed by a golden one. They were followed by a flock of pegasi trying to get to them.

“Looks like they’re heading over to Fluttershy’s.” Twilight estimated.

We altered course to where Dash and Greg were headed. We noticed another stampede being led by Applejack and Tim, with Fluttershy and Doug flying with them at low altitude. We eventually merged into one group. I noticed Dash and Greg did a manoeuvre towards our direction. They caught up to us.

“Hey, Guys!” Greg jested, “Out for a nice stroll, I see.”

“And I bet you’re out to get some fresh air.” I returned the joke.

The stampede corralled us towards the town square. We all stopped at the town hall, and a brown and grey pony in her fifties addressed the crowd.

“Citizens of Ponyville, stop this lunacy at once! The order from Princess Celestia said to treat these humans as would any other pony, not to over-patronize them and chase them around town. That type of behaviour is just ludicrous. Please, go back to your jobs and homes and leave these beings in peace.”

“Miss,” I interrupted, “I bet these ponies want answers.”

She acknowledged, “Very well. I’ll hand the time over to you.”

“Greetings, ponies.” I saw a few flash bulbs from cameras blinding me a bit, “My name is Rodney Kasparov, or you can call me Rod, Lightning Rod, or just Lightning. Five strangers and I arrived to this world by forces unknown to us and also Princess Celestia to train in the ways of the six Elements of Harmony. I thought I was alone, until I met these five people. Their names are Vern Samson, Tim Delaney, Steven Nelson, Greg Angel, and Doug, just Doug. After we got acquainted with each other, we became great friends.”

Everbody “Awww”ed after I explained.

“I do have magic abilities. They’re lightning based. Before I was here, I never had a horn in my life. None of these guys had horns or wings before being here. But we learned from the best, being Twilight Sparkle and her friends. With their help, we will succeed in our mission to bring the Elements to our home world so we can make it better.”

A whole bunch of questions were all asked at once. I stopped them and said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to answer a whole bunch of questions all at once. We all have our things to do and not a lot of time to do it in.”

Doug stepped in, “Don’t worry, I’ll answer questions. I have plenty of time, also, I have done a few Q and A sessions.” He then turned to the crowd, “Okay, everypony. I’m available to answer any and all questions. No question is stupid. Just ask one at a time.”

A sea of raised hooves and the echoing of Sir’s and Doug’s echoed. He pointed to a hand in the crowd, “You, green hoof over there.”

“Cameron Lenz, Ponyville Press.” He stated. “How long have you been here in Ponyville?”

“I have been here for one week, two days. If you’re talking about the others, it ranges from four days to two weeks.”

Another sea of raised hooves and another point, “You, blue hoof with the watch.”

“What’s it like in your world?”

“Well, we are really advanced. I heard about your growth in technology about computers radio, and telephones. Our society has a computer so compact that I can easily carry it with my hand.”

I walked inside Town Hall while the rest followed suit, including the brown and grey mare. I talked to her, “Thanks for bailing us out, miss…”

“My name is Mayor Mare, Mayor of Ponyville.”

“Well again, thank you, Mayor.” Twilight smiled, “You wouldn’t believe how stressful this moment was.”

“Don’t worry, humans, you’ll be safe under my watch. And ponies, I’ll make sure you’re not interrupted during your training.”

“That will help us a lot.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, definitely.” Spike said, “I want to finish my emerald sandwich, if it’s not ruined.”

“Don’t worry, Spike.” Twilight comforted, “I’ll make you a new one.”

Yup, well it was sure a wake-up-call.” Applejack told her story, “We didn’t know what was goin’ on with everypony until I saw the sign.”

Tim expanded, “Yeah, when it was around eleven o’clock, a whole herd of them were outside Sweet Apple Acres.”

Greg added, “We saw the sign last night. We thought no big deal of it until we woke up to dozens of pegasus ponies wanting to see what all this human fuss was about.”

Pinkie jumped in, “We had a huge crowd over at the bakery, but, they were only after Vern. But I didn’t see any sign.”

“Um… Pinkie,” Fluttershy pointed over to a piece of paper nailed to a post, “I think that’s the sign that everyone’s talking about.”

Pinkie dashed towards the sign and read it quickly, her eyes zipping back and forth like a typewriter, “Oh! That explains everything!”

The doors opened to reveal Doug. He announced, “The crowd is all dispersed. We can all go back home in peace now.”

We looked outside, and saw only a few groups of ponies outside talking.

“Well then, I hope you have yourself a good rest of the day.” the Mayor wished us.

“You know what I was thinking?” I asked the guys on the way out.

“What is it, Lightning?” responded Greg.

“I was thinking about what we have been given. We have gained so many talents and abilities since we arrived here.”

“So, what’s the point?” asked Tim.

“When we get back to Earth, we could be superheroes. We need to have superhero names, uniforms, and all sorts of stuff.”

“Count me in.” Vern came in, “I could be Mr. Surprise, with all sorts of fireworks weaponry.”

“In fact, I can be Angel. I’m not very creative with superhero names, but fancy this one writes itself.”

Tim pondered while looking at his cutie mark, “Hard… Core… Hardcore!”

Steven laughed, “Well, I don’t have any superpowers, not that I can find, but I can provide you with some gadgets, and also design some costumes with the help of Rarity.”

“And I can provide you with some inside help to cover up your tracks.” Doug offered.

“Then it’s settled,” I announced, “We shall be called the Heroes of Harmony.”

Our heroes have formed a pact, and plan to challenge the evils that plague the world. But before they do, they need to learn more about their powers, and each other. In the next issue: Showdown in Sweet Apple Acres. Keep your eyes on your shelves! Or subscribe for your next issue of LIGHTNING ROD!

Issue 06

LIGHTNING ROD

ISSUE #06

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” Twilight woke me up after a long night of training, learning new spells, working in the library, and other fun stuff. I got off of my bed that was previously a couch before Twilight did a number on that thing. Twilight used her magic to revert it to its couch-like state.

“So what’s on the agenda today, Twilight?” I asked.

Twilight sighed, “Well, you’ve learned every spell you need to know, but we need to apply them. But first, breakfast.”

Twilight cooked up pancakes for breakfast. Time went relatively fast while eating those pancakes. We didn’t talk about anything. Twilight just ate her pancakes and gave me the occasional look, then a smile. I usually smiled back at her. Once breakfast was over, Spike woke up from his usual lengthy sleep, grabbed a few gems from the gem jar, said his good mornings to me and Twilight then proceeded to eat them. It was certainly a rough day for all of us, especially after the big chase. I didn’t feel that good as well. Even though she seemed well energized, I still had a feeling that Twilight wanted to cancel the lesson. But it’s a royal duty that she is performing. She has to torture herself, all in the name of the Princess and the good of my planet. As I thought that in the silence of Spike snacking on gems, I felt I needed to say something to her.

“Thank you for what you’re doing.” were the words that spilled out of my mouth.

“Gee, Thanks, Rod.” Twilight was shocked by the random moment.

“I felt like you needed to hear that.”

Twilight laughed, “I did need that. I’ve been training you for four days, making sure you will fulfill your calling to go back to your world with the Element of Magic. It’s something I have to do. Yesterday was hard on all of us. But today will be a lot easier.”

“How so, Twilight?” Spike asked before munching on another gem.

“We’re going to have fun. We’re gonna start off in Sweet Apple Acres for target practice. Applejack wants to get rid of some bad apples that are rotting in the barn. I thought we could help and get in some target practice in the process.”

“Welcome to the ranch there, Rod.” I was received warmly by Applejack at the gates of Sweet Apple Acres, “So I reckon you’re here to take care of our rotten apples?”

Twilight answered, “Indeed we are. We’re also giving him some target practice.”

“I see where you’re going with this, Twi.” commented Applejack. “Tim is packin’ up all them apples and we’ll head out to the range.”

We walked over to the barn and found Tim loading up the cart full of baskets of nearly rotten apples. There was a buff red stallion linking his harness with the cart.

“Hey, Rod.” Tim greeted me, “I hope you had a good rest last night.”

“I did. Thanks.”

“Mornin’, Rod.” The red pony introduced himself, “The name’s Big Macintosh.”

Applejack noted, “He’s a pony of few words, but he is the hardest workin’ pony around these parts.”

Big Mac responded with just an “Eeyup.”

Applejack directed, “Let’s get to the range so you can work on your aim.”

We walked a dirt laden trail over to the range. Big Mac was towing the cart while Tim was getting ready to help him push the cart once it got stuck. The apples didn’t smell at all from a distance, It’s just if you smell one up close is when you start to feel queasy. After a long walk, we saw a large square plain surrounded by bare apple trees. Tim and Big Mac were unloading baskets off the cart while Twilight, Applejack, and I headed to the middle of the field.

Twilight reminded me while we were walking, “Remember, Rod. Focus, then shoot.”

I nodded to acknowledge her advice.

Tim hollered, “We’re ready to throw some apples.”

I yelled back, “Toss one.”

He tossed up an apple around thirty feet in the air. I immediately focused and let out a lightning bolt on the apple. It exploded and it rained apple bits and juice in the surrounding area.

Applejack yelled to Tim, “I know you can toss higher than that.”

Tim nodded to her. He threw up another apple. This one was around fifty feet high. I aimed and fired, resulting in another apple juice shower.

After a few apples, I yelled to him, “How about tossing two at a time?”

“Sure thing, Rod.” He answered.

He tossed two apples. I focused on them both at the same time. I let out two bolts, each one hitting their mark. Tim threw another pair, and I hit them again. I backed up ten feet and he launched another pair, I focused and shot, yielding the same result.

I asked, “Can you do three at a time?”

“Yeah sure. I can do three.”

He grabbed three apples, two on his right hand, and one on his left. He launched them upwards. I focused on the three apples, and let out three bolts. But only two of them hit their mark. I didn’t know what happened; maybe I didn’t focus enough on the third apple. I told him to launch another three. He did so, and I focused more on all three of the apples. I launched the bolts from my horn and successfully shot three of them at the same time. Another three were tossed, but one of them rebounded off another and didn’t fly so high as the others. It didn’t matter, because I shocked them all. Another more consistent three, and another apple rainfall. After that, I sat down on the grass to take a bit of a break. I saw a human shape in the sky, flying towards us. As it got closer, it appeared to be Doug. It looked like he was gonna land right near us. Applejack galloped towards our direction.

“I see you’re having a bit of a shooting fest.” Doug observed.

“Mhm.” Applejack explained, “Rod here is workin’ on his aim, and at the same time, gettin’ rid of our rotten apples.”

“I see.” Doug noted, “I was helping Rainbow and Greg gather some clouds for tonight’s storm. I figured I come down here to shoot a few rounds, if you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all.” I answered.

Applejack agreed, “Yeah, sure. Go on ahead.”

Doug then hollered to Tim, “Let’s start with two.”

Tim threw up two apples, and then Doug quickly unholstered his gun and shot the two apples. Tim launched another pair and Doug made quick work out of them. Doug called for three apples, Tim threw them up, and Doug shot them in mid air. He called for another threesome, and successfully shot the three, even though one of them bounced off another. Another three apples, another three unfortunate victims. He then called for four at a time. Tim grabbed onto the apples and threw them up. It looked complicated with some rebounding heading up, but he managed to shoot all four of them. He slid the empty magazine out of his gun. He turned to us and asked, “What do you think?”

I commented first, “I think that you’re an excellent shooter.”

Twilight gave her analysis, “Firing dead on a small target at fifty yards away is a mighty impressive feat.”

“Indeed.” agreed Applejack. “I don’t wanna be on the bad end of that pistol.”

“So Rod, are you up for a shootout?” Doug challenged.

“Well,” I nervously shrugged, “I’m not a good shooter”

“That’s just horse manure, Rod.” Doug complimented, “I saw you shooting those apples like nobody’s business. So how about it?”

I was convinced, “Yeah sure. But don’t retire once I beat you.”

Doug commended, “Now that’s the spirit. I’ll get Tim over here to explain a few things to him.”

We all agreed on the rules. It would be contested in three rounds. A hit equalled a point. The first round was split-fire: Tim would throw two apples left and right at a forty-five degree angle three times. The next one was random shooter: Tim would randomly throw six apples either left, right, or upwards. The last round was rapid fire: Tim would throw five apples upwards with a gap of half a second. The most apples shot would win. We did rock-paper-scissors to see who would go first, and I was first. When Tim yelled, “Ready?” I signalled to him. He threw two apples, and I concentrated on both of them at once. It was hard to do, so I ended up braking concentration off the left one, and devoted my total aim to the right one. I shocked the right one, but the other one touched the grass before I regained my focus on that apple. I signalled again that I was ready, knowing what to do. Once the apples left Tim’s hands, I immediately concentrated on the right one, and successfully shot it, and then the left one and shot it as well, and the pattern continued on the last pair. I scored a five out of six. It was Doug’s turn. His first pair was successful, his next pair was as same as his first, and the last pair was just perfect. He scored six out of six. Since we agreed on whoever is trailing goes first, I was first in the next round. Tim was hiding behind the cart so that we couldn’t see where he was throwing. The first one I saw went left. I successfully shot that one. The next one went right, and another point to me. The next one was up, and again it was shot down. Up, left, left, all were shocked. A perfect six for me. Doug was next and he started out with a right throw. He got that successfully. Next was a left one. He did get a piece of it, and was still a hit. However, the next one was also a left one that caught him off guard. He shot and missed. The next one went up, and Doug regained his composure and shot that one, another left one, and a hit to regain his confidence, and the last one was a right which he missed. Now I lead by a score of eleven to ten. Doug and I took a break. After a few minutes, Doug was ready to shoot. He threw up his arm to signal to Tim that he was ready. Tim threw up the five apples around half of a second from each other. He managed to get all five of them. It was my turn. It was four to tie and five to win. I signalled that I was ready. Tim threw up the apples, and I quickly aimed and shocked them one by one. At the third apple, I felt my concentration going off. I managed to shock the third one, but then the fourth and fifth went falling to the ground. I sat on the ground to regain myself.

“Are you alright, Rod?” Twilight was concerned for me.

“Yeah, I am.” I reported, “But I feel really tired.”

“Hey, Rod.” Doug extended his hand towards me, “It was a good match.”

I nodded, “Yeah, it was. I didn’t know I would hang with you.”

“Both of y’all are the best shooters I have ever laid my eyes upon.” Applejack smiled. “How ‘bout y’all come over to my house to have some grub?”

“That’ll be wonderful, Applejack.” Twilight responded. “We can sure need a bite to eat after that workout.”

I just nodded and breathed out a “Yeah.”

“I’m gonna go back and search for some clouds.” Doug then shook my hand, “It’s been nice shooting with you.”

“Thanks. I didn’t know I had it in me.”

“I’ll see you around, Lightning.” And with that, Doug flew off to catch up with Rainbow and Greg.

“I’m leavin’ the leftovers right here. I heard Steven’s making Vern some gun that shoots fireworks, and they’ll be both coming in this afternoon to test them out. Y’all get a ride back. Big Mac can handle our weight, ain’t that right, Big Mac?”

All he said, again, was a simple, “Eeyup.”

We were pulled back to the farm house, but as we were, I thought to start up a conversation.

“So AJ, What do you got planned for lunch?”

“Well,” Applejack paused, “I was thinkin’ about some grilled cheese sandwiches for y’all human folks, and some daisy sandwiches for us pony folk. Or maybe you can try Tim’s chicken soup, y’know, since you need meat for protein.”

“That’ll be perfect.” I agreed.

“Don’t worry, Rod. I make a good soup.” He reassured me.

“Looking forward to it.”

We arrived at the farm house. The inside was nice and homely, like your typical little house in the prairie, in this case, the orchard. I saw a small yellowish green pony with a rose red mane at the door.

“Hi there.” The pony cheerily greeted us.

“Howdy there, Apple Bloom.” Applejack nodded, “We got guests here for lunch.”

“Howdy, Twilight and uhh… What’s your name?”

“The name’s Rod.” I kneeled down, “And you’re Apple Bloom, from what Applejack said.”

“Nice ta meet ya, Lightning.”

I chuckled a bit. I looked back to Applejack. She just said, “I been talkin’ about you for quite some time now. We’ll fix up lunch. ‘Til then, make yourself at home.”

Twilight and I gave our “Thanks.” at the same time.

We chilled at Applejack’s place until our lunch was ready. I talked to Apple Bloom about my experience here, my lightning powers, and my cutie mark. I learned that she’s part of a secret club of ponies called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I promised to keep it a secret to all of the rest of the fillies. Once lunch was ready, we all sat at the table. I got a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of chicken soup with carrot slices, peas, and potatoes. Tim made himself the same lunch, and Twilight and Applejack had vegetable soup with daisy sandwiches. It was mostly silent. The only words spoken were about Tim’s home cooking. I was impressed on how he made it. After we ate lunch, Twilight and I headed out, but not before we said our farewells.

“It’s been fun, Applejack.” I smiled, “I’ll see you around.”

“Yes. Thanks for allowing my student to have some practice.” Twilight gave her gratitude.

“No problem there, partners. You’re welcome anytime.” Applejack returned the thanks.

On our way back to Ponyville, we ran into Vern and Steven. They had with themselves a bag full of colorful tubes adorned with stripes of white, blue, pink, purple, red, yellow, green, and all sorts of colors I couldn’t identify at the time.

“Hey, Lightning.” Vern waved at us.

“Hey guys.” I hollered back. We ran over to them to see what they were up to.

“So what are you guys doing?” Twilight asked.

Steven was the first to talk, “We’re testing out some prototype weapons to prove how deadly and accurate they are. We are trying to make a weapon that is not deadly but can be accurate. I also have a few close range spread shots, and this,” He pulled out a long tube from the bag. It was around three feet long and was white and red striped. “This is a rifle tube. It’s designed to be the most accurate with its length. I even got this to go along with it.” He then pulled out a spyglass with a couple of screw-on clamps mounted on each end of the tube. “It’s going to be a firework sniper rifle.”

“Cool.” I was impressed by the concepts. “So how does Mr. Surprise feel about the test?”

“Oh, it’s awesome.” Vern answered. “To be honest, it’s the first time I’ll be firing a weapon.”

“Well, you gotta let us know how testing goes.” Twilight suggested.

“I’ll remember that for the next time we meet.” Steven reassured. “Oh, and one more thing: Rarity’s done with our superhero costumes. You should try yours out. It looks awesome.”

“Thanks.” I responded, “We’re gonna head over there right now, unless Twilight has something else in store for me.”

“Nope.” Twilight answered, “Let’s head on over to Rarity’s.”

We arrived at the Carousel Boutique. At the door, there was a sign that read, “Feel free to walk in.” We opened the door and a little bell right next to the door ringed. Rarity’s shop was adorned with pony mannequins clothed with immaculate dresses and simple designs. Rarity trotted down from upstairs. She noticed me and Twilight then immediately invited us upstairs.

“Hello, Rod. I have been awaiting your arrival. Please, do come up here.”

All three of us went up together, but Rarity stopped us by saying, “No. Only Rod can come up.”

“Why can’t I come up?” Twilight asked.

“It’s important that you wait for the big surprise.” Rarity simply answered.

Twilight smiled, “Okay. I’ll wait down here.”

I continued up the stairs and she escorted me to a door. She opened up the door, and gestured her hoof for me to go first. I went in and found myself in her studio, with rolls of fabric hanging from shelves, patterns on the desks, sewing tools right next to the sewing machine, and so much more. It looked like an organized mess.

“Your outfit is right over here, Rod.” Rarity directed my attention to a purple curtain. She pulled a rope to reveal my outfit. There were five pieces; a mask, shirt, and pants that were hung up using hangers and clips, and a pair of boots standing right below the ensemble. The outfit was mainly made of a black and yellow shiny fabric. It was designed with thick lightning-bolt lines going down its pants legs and arm sleeves. And on the chest was my cutie mark, the horn made out of lightning, expertly embroided on the chest. The mask looked like a luchadore’s mask. It had an open mouth, diamond shaped yellow lined eye holes, lightning bolt ears, little bolts just above the eyebrows, and a hole at the forehead for my horn to fit through. I then noticed a two inch gap that extended from just after the horn and to where the tie-on back of the mask is.

Rarity began to explain the uniform, “Your uniform is made out of a non-conductive lightweight breathable material. It is designed for a loose fit for mobility and flexibility. The mask has features with it. The ears have a special fabric that filters out loud noises, but you can hear a slight whisper through them. Steven also added a pocket in there for an earpiece, some sort of tiny speaker that fits in your ear. You may notice a gap at the top of your mask. That is to let some of your hair flow out of it, just to add a stylish touch to the uniform. Go ahead and try it on. I set up a changing barrier over there.”

I grabbed the clothes and changed quickly into my new uniform. When I came out from behind the barrier, Rarity directed me towards the mirror. For the first time in my life, I looked like an authentic superhero.

“It fits perfectly. Now go. You must show Twilight your new clothes.”

I opened up the door and walked downstairs. Twilight smiled and admired my outfit.

“So how do I look?” I asked them.

Twilight answered, “Like a superhero.”

Our hero has gained the skills, knowledge, and power necessary to be a superhero, and now he looks the part. But there is still a little bit more to learn. In the next issue: All six learn their last lessons from their masters, and the debut of the writer’s pony persona. All in the next issue of LIGHTNING ROD!

Issue 07

LIGHTNING ROD

Issue #07

We walked home after a long day of training and other fun stuff. I had my bag with me that contained my outfit. We saw all the pegasus ponies transferring masses of cloud for the storm that was scheduled for tonight. The evening got darker and darker with every cloud that came within the city limits of Ponyville. We arrived at the library before the storm hit.

“Spike,” Twilight voiced, “How did your day running the library go?”

“It was a bit slow,” Spike called from upstairs, “But we received a package from Princess Celestia.”

“Wow. Is it another textbook, a reference guide?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, even better.”

Next thing we heard were clicks of hooves coming downstairs, and the first thing to come out of the tunnel was a male black unicorn with a somewhat messy yellow mane split left and right from his forehead to his back. As more of him was revealed, he had a really buff body and yellow colored hooves. His cutie mark was a simple looking lightning bolt.

He introduced himself, “Hey. The name’s Shadow Storm.” He spoke in a higher tone than me, “I got a letter from the Princess about giving a lesson to a unicorn human with a lightning specialty. You must be Rod Kasparov.”

“Yup.” I answered. “And this here’s my teacher…”

“Twilight Sparkle.” Shadow cut me off. “It’s been a long time, eh?”

“Definitely, Shadow.” Twilight smiled at him, “So how’s Canterlot going for you?”

“Ah, same old stuff, but the school’s treating me well. I see you got promoted to teacher since you were transferred.”

“Oh nah. It’s just a temporary job.”

Shadow laughed, “You know, with your skill, you can teach an earth pony how to levitate an apple.”

Twilight laughed as well, “Shadow, I forgot how funny you were.”

“Thanks, Twi.”

Twilight turned to me, “Oh, Shadow and I used to be classmates in Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

“But I could never compare to Twilight.”

She laughed again, “Stop it.”

“Okay, I’ll stop. I’ll get right to business. I’ll teach you a few things about being a lightning unicorn, and what a perfect time to teach you with this scheduled thunderstorm that all the pegasi are bringing in.”

“Yeah.” Twilight was looking outside the window, “By the looks of things, it’ll be starting soon.”

I asked Shadow, “So what are you going to teach me?”

“I’m going to teach you how to catch lightning, and make it your friend. All lightning specialty unicorns have the power to use their body as a battery. When using powers in excess, say for shooting at a whole bunch of enemies at one time, your power gets drained. You can regain energy through eating, drinking, and doing physical and mental work. But if you want a charge fast, you should find something to charge yourself with, like a battery or a power source. In this case, we’re using the best charge ever conceived by nature: Lightning.”

“So how do I harness it?”

“It’s kinda hard to explain. It’s mostly science stuff. You just have to find a positive charge somewhere. You can do that by doing a simple light spell. You know how to do that, right?”

“Yeah.” I immediately made my horn’s tip glow an electric yellow.

“Good. Just retain that energy. Don’t let it go anywhere.”

I just nodded. “Okay, the next thing you do is search around the library. There’s bound to be some pockets of static electricity somewhere. It’ll glow a nice yellow, same as your aura, once your horn is around ten meters within the charge. So let’s search for some charges.”

We walked around the house to find a charge. The search took us around the entire library. We tried the kitchen, the bathroom, we even tried Twilight’s study and bedroom. No luck. But as we walked into the reference section, I saw a glow coming from the fifth row of books. As I got closer, the glow got more intense. It was coming from a metal binding of a book.

Shadow said, “Go ahead, Break the light spell and levitate it down here.”

“Alright.” I did so, and placed it on a nearby table. I turned the light spell back on and the glow was still there.

“Twilight, go ahead and touch the charge.”

“Seriously?”

“Don’t worry, it’s safe. Especially when Rod is still casting the light spell.”

She slowly moved her hoof towards the metal binding of the book. As her hoof was millimeters away, she felt a shock, screamed for a quarter second and pulled her hoof back. The yellow glow was gone.

Shadow went on to explain, “During a thunderstorm, huge pockets of positive charges will be spread throughout the earth below lightning clouds. You will have to find a pocket, either absorb its positive energy or stand under it, and concentrate on the cloud to find a negative charge. A lightning bolt will give you a shock, but it will charge you and amplify your powers. The first shock is the hardest one, but after that, it’s smooth sailing.”

After he said that, the sound of thunder was heard.

“Who’s your chief weather pony?” Shadow asked.

“Her name is Rainbow Dash.” Twilight answered. “Why’d you ask?”

“Make sure to thank her for this storm. Okay?”

“I’ll make sure she gets the message.”

“Alright. Are you ready, Rod?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Alrighty then, Let’s go!”

Shadow opened up the front door and darted outside. I walked outside and felt the first drops of the storm.

“Don’t worry about getting pneumonia,” Shadow yelled at me from a distance, “Once you get shocked, you’ll be warmed up.”

I started the light spell and began running through Ponyville, trying to find positive charges. All the while, the rain was slowly intensifying itself. I can see strikes of lightning going around town with thunder following. After around thirty minutes of looking for positive charges, I found one that was near a house. I ran over there and stood on the source. I was a bit hesitant on finding a negative charge in the clouds, since it was a thunder strike that brought me here, but I managed to get some courage and concentrated on finding a negative charge. Within one tenth of a second, I got shocked. I initially got knocked down after taking that shot, but after a few seconds, I realized that I was still in Ponyville. The pony living at that place took a peek outside the window, and found me. He was mainly brown, lighter on the coat, with a bit of a fluffy mane. I waved at him, and he waved back slowly, looking very surprised. I felt more energized and warmer after that shock. I pulled off my light spell and it was brighter than it was a moment ago. I had a feeling that my charge detection range grew from that. so I continued to run down the streets of Ponyville. I later bumped into Shadow near Town Hall.

“Hey, Shadow!” I hollered.

“Hey Rod! Did you find anything yet?”

“Yeah. I found one near one of the houses.”

“Good. I found three of them so far. I forgot to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“You gotta know when you’re full.”

“Okay.”

“Basically, you feel a headache. Don’t take anymore shocks when you feel a headache.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure to do that.”

“We’ll do this for about thirty more minutes, or until both of us are full. Then we’ll head back to the library. Okay?”

“Alright.”

“See ya later, Lightning Rod.”

He galloped off while activating his light spell. I kept on running until I found a charge in the middle of the road. I ran over there and stood on it, and received another shock. This one was certainly more bearable than the last one. After that one, it got easier to find charges. I had more stamina and speed to search for the charges, and my extended light range made it easier to see them. After shock and shock I received, I gained more energy. I would usually find them within the span of five minutes. After five other shocks, I felt a bit of a headache, and I knew it was time to head home. I arrived home with Twilight and Shadow having some conversation in the living room.

“Well, thanks for everything, Shadow. I actually needed somepony who was a lightning specialty unicorn, and you were a perfect candidate.”

“I thought Sparky Watts would have got the call from Manehattan.”

“But Celestia wanted to give me a lightning specialty who lived closer, and Canterlot is just a three hour’s train ride away from here.”

“Yeah, if you put it that way, but I’m still a student.”

“A student from one of the greatest unicorn academies in existence.”

“Yeah, another good point. Twilight, why must you attack my humility?”

“Attack?” Twilight laughed, “I’m just simply stating the truth.”

“Oh hey, Rod.” Shadow noticed me.

“How did you enjoy your lightning catching?” Twilight asked.

“Best workout I ever had.”

“Well that’s good.” Twilight smiled, “I’ll give you your last lesson before your final exam.”

“Last lesson?” I stated.

“Yes. Just a bit of advice, and that is to be creative.”

“Be creative… How so?”

“I discovered a few years ago of the power of friendship. It took some help from the Princess, but I managed to make new friends. The thing was I didn’t know that making new friends was the key to unlocking the powers of the Elements of Harmony, therefore saving Equestria from eternal darkness. After having adventures with my friends, combined with my studies, I have discovered the key to unlocking new spells, the key being imagination.”

“So have you invented any spells?”

“Nope, not for the moment. Knowing about imagination is one thing, but having it is a whole other story. I believe once I have more quality time with my friends, I’ll gain the imagination I need. Or maybe I should do more reading in the Fiction section.”

I nodded, “Yeah, maybe that as well.”

“Okay, but remember to have an imagination. See what you want to do and make it happen with magic.”

“Alright. I’ll take that with me.”

Twilight rhetorically asked, “I wonder what the others are having for a final lesson?”

Rarity and Steven were in the upper room of the Carousel Boutique, not working, but sitting and talking with each other.

“Us six have prepared a final exam for each of you tomorrow, and I have one final lesson for you, Steven.” Rarity spoke.

“Alright, Rarity. What’s your final lesson?”

“When I was a filly, I was designing costumes for my class’s recital. Whilst I was in mid-labor, I was taken by my horn to a far off place. It stopped pulling me when I hit this massive rock. I was immediately cross with that dirty thing, but then a sonic rainboom from Cloudsdale shook the Earth and cracked the rock to reveal lots and lots of gems. I felt it was appropriate to design the costume with these gems. When it came recital time, the gems sparkled their way to a successful recital, and thus, earning my cutie mark.”

“So what’s the moral of the story?” Steven asked just before the roll of thunder was heard.

“Well, what I mainly got out of that story was to let your magic guide you. It may not be pretty or glamorous at first, but it will benefit you in the long run. But for now, you must rest for tomorrow.”

Fluttershy was with Doug inside the living room of Fluttershy’s house. Fluttershy was laying on a couch and Doug was sitting on a chair. A kerosene lamp lit up the room along with occasional lightning bursts.

“Um… Doug?” Fluttershy was first to speak.

“What is it, Fluttershy?” His head was pointed towards the window.

“The other teachers and I have prepared a final test tomorrow, and I’m sorry if I’m interfering with your job, but can you do me one little tiny favor?”

“I’ll try my best, Fluttershy. What is it?”

“Please, use your gun less often, or any gun. I know that it’s part of your job, and you saved my life with it, and I am truly grateful for it, but it’s too scary for a weapon like this to be in existence.”

“I know how you feel, Fluttershy. Some might argue with a saying that goes, ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people.’ That might be a fact, but guns can let people kill people faster, and that’s what makes this weapon scary. But believe me, there are scarier things in my world, such as nuclear warheads and extremists. That’s why I do the stuff that I do, so I can prevent war from happening. I protested war during my youth, and ironically, I was drafted to carry a weapon of war twenty-four hours per day. My only motive not go AWOL was to defend my right to protest against what I hated, even if it has to mean fighting in a war that I felt was immoral. I chose DOUG because killing was a last resort. There will come a day when my hands will be too frail to handle a gun. When that day comes, I will never shoot for good. So I’m going to keep your promise, whether I choose, or age chooses for me.”

“Thank you, Doug.”

Far away in the city of Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash and Greg were enjoying the sunset from a hotel room.

“It’s been a good day gathering up some clouds for that storm.” Dash commented, “The weather crew needed some extra hooves, and we provided ours, transferring groups of clouds from Cloudsdale to Ponyville, and we rocked it.”

“Indeed we have. Rainbow, you’ve taught me a lot; about how to fly, about loyalty, and about how awesome a rainbow laden pony can be.”

“You’re not bad yourself, Greg. Someday, you might beat me in a race.”

“You know I haven’t broken the sound barrier yet, and in three recorded instances, you not only have done that, but made an amazing light show in the process, so you got me there.”

“Yeah, but someday you will. You gotta put yourself through your own boot camp, so you can be stronger and faster than you are today. I always go by the twenty percent rule.”

“What’s the Twenty Percent rule?”

“You gotta strive to be twenty percent better at what you do every day. You gotta be twenty percent faster, stronger, more loyal, and my personal favorite, twenty percent cooler. You have to constantly improve almost every aspect of your life in order to be what you want to be. You’ll need it tomorrow for your final exam. So are you ready to commit?”

“Yes. I’m ready.”

“Is that what they teach you how to be ready in the Military? Louder!”

“Sir, Yes, Sir!”

“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, Tim, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Apple Bloom got together and sat near the fireplace.

Applejack talked to Tim, “Well thanks, Tim for helpin’ us out on the ranch. You earned every bit of your pay.”

“Don’t mention it, AJ.” Tim responded. “I should be thanking you. I didn’t know I had this strength. I haven’t felt more amazing in my whole life. I feel like doing some work outside the rain.”

“Easy there, partner. You might be strong, but you ain’t immune to cold rain and lightnin’. You don’t wanna catch a cold before the big test me and the other sugarcubes prepared for ya, and I also don’t want you to warp into another world like Rod did.”

Apple Bloom laughed, “Yeah, We don’t want you to go two dimensions away from home, because that’s too far for ya.”

Tim laughed as well, “You know, once I get home, I’m gonna miss this place. You’ve been a great help to me.”

“Don’t worry, sugarcube. Just remember this: We’ll always be with you.”

At Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie and Vern were sitting and staring at each other. Pinkie tilted her head sideways and made a bit of a quirky smile. Vern followed suit, then wiggled his ears. A strike of lightning tries to interfere in the match, but with no avail. Pinkie countered by twitching her ears. She then extended her tongue out, slowly bent it upwards, and was able to lick her cotton candy mane. Vern laughed and broke the stare.

“Tell me, how do you do that?” Vern asked the victor.

“I just simply think of it, and then I do it. Oh, that reminds me, I have one thing for you to teach you before your final test.” She said in her usual cheerful disposition.

“Sure, what is it?”

Pinkie pointed to a wall, “Look at that wall.”

“Yeah,” He looked confused, “It’s just a wall.”

“No, silly. You gotta look beyond the wall.”

After a few seconds of concentrating on the wall, Vern sees something new. It’s you, yes, you, the reader of this fiction.

Vern laughed, “Cool! Now I can see through the fourth wall. Are you sure I won’t ruin the fabric of time and space?”

“No, silly. It’s all part of a not-for-profit fan fiction.”

“Heh, Cool. Hey reader. How ya doin’? I wonder how many of you are reading this.”

“You can always look at the view counter.”

“Oh. Wow…” He looked up to the view counter, “That’s a decent number. But I bet it can get bigger. Go to your friends and tell them that superheroes are being made here, in Equestria!”

And so our heroes take their last bit of advice before the final test.

“Oh cool. This fic has an announcer.”

As I was saying, before the final test , which will take place in the mythical Everfree Forest.

“Bring it on.” taunted a confident Vern.

Will they survive the threats that are laid in store for the six?

Pinkie stated, “Well, I hope so.”

Will Vern use his fourth wall powers wisely?

“Okay, announcer. I will promise to use them wisely.”

You’ll get the answers in the next issue. So Subscribe and watch your shelves, but most of all, tell your friends about LIGHTNING ROD!