Chapters The Beginning
Late, deep into Luna’s night, a black pony held the hoof of a lavender mare laying on a delivery table. She was heavily pregnant with her only child, a girl. She was going to be a unicorn, she just knew it. She could feel the magic radiating out from her swollen belly. Her husband had told her that it had to be a pegasus because he had seen one too many appendages poking at the mare’s stomach at a time; this obviously indicated wings. They had been thinking up names based on what the filly would be able to do. They decided on “Lightning” if she was a pegasus, and “Aura” if she was a unicorn. The mare gave a small cry and squeezed the stallion’s hoof tighter.
The doors to the room swung open and two regal figures entered. Princesses Celestia of the Sun and Princess Luna of the Night seemed to fill the room with their majestic brilliance. They greeted the young couple who bowed (as well as the mare could) and greeted the Princesses in return. Luna approached the black pony and asked him to accompany her outside while the two other ponies talked. The stallion obliged and followed the Princess into the hall. Celestia waited until the door closed to turn to look at the young mare. The Princess figured that this had to be them, the family they had been searching for. The royal sisters may not have received information on the couple’s appearance, but there were no other families with the surname Strike.
Celestia continued to look at the pregnant mare, and the mare looked back. The Princess then opened her mouth and asked, “How are you?”
The lavender pony was momentarily surprised. She was facing the Princess of the Sun on a hospital table about to go into labor and Celestia wanted to know how she was? Well, might as well continue with the small talk as nothing else was going on.
“I’m fine, thank you. I must say, I was quite surprised to hear that you and Princess Luna wanted an audience with us at such a...strange location.” She blushed a little, knowing how weird it sounded coming out of her own mouth. A refined pony of Canterlot society she may be, it’s still no easy task asking why such important figures would want to meet you and your spouse at a hospital minutes before your delivery.
“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but there is a serious case of ponypox going around. It easily infects pregnant ponies and damages, or even kills, the fetus inside. We’ve been going around for a couple months now, casting magic on unborn foals to protect them from infections and diseases. We got a notice saying that you hadn’t received the spell yet, so we rushed over to make sure we made it before the baby was born.”
The lavender pony hadn’t heard of any such disease going around, and upon entering the Canterlot hospital, it had been unusually quiet, almost eerily so. She brushed this thought out of her mind and focused on the Princess again. She agreed to the treatment and lay back as Celestia started her magic and lowered her horn towards the pony’s enlarged belly.
The black stallion was pacing back and forth in the hospital hallway just outside the delivery room. The Moon Princess was outside with him, just watching him walk back and forth. What’s so important that I can’t be in there with my wife , the black pony wondered. He stopped pacing and went over to one of the chairs and sat down. Luna walked over and began to speak.
“So, your name is Takedown Strike, am I correct?” she inquired.
“Yes.”
“May I ask what your occupation is?”
He turned his head towards the princess and he fixed his red eyes on her. “I am the commander of the Equestrian SWAT team.”
“I see,” Luna said. She considered this for a few moments before continuing. “What does your wife, Glimmer, do for an occupation?”
Takedown turned away. He didn’t answer. The two sat outside without speaking for close to thirty minutes. Then an ear shattering scream tore through Takedown’s thoughts and he turned and ran to his wife’s delivery room. He didn’t bother opening the door. With the adrenaline running through his body, he ran right through it, wood spraying out and flying in all directions. The Moon Princess was right behind him.
===
It had been 15 minutes since he had found his wife writhing on the delivery table and the two Princesses took their leave. He now held a tiny red female pegasus wrapped in a towel in his arms. The tiny newborn had its eyes closed and was moving gently under the towel. Takedown couldn’t take his eyes off the tiny pony. He couldn’t believe how he and his wife could have made such a beautiful little pony. He sighed and wiped a tear from his eye.
“Well hon, you did it. We now have a little filly of our own. Congratulations.”
No reply.
“Honey?”
He turned to look at Glimmer. She lay on the stainless steel table, not moving. She might have just been sleeping, except her chest wasn’t moving.
“Glimmer? Honey, please wake up. You have to see our child. You got this far, you can’t give up now.” He lifted her head up with one hoof while holding the lightly squirming foal in the other. Glimmer’s head rolled to the side in her husband’s shaking hoof, her mouth slightly open, eyes closed, never to open again.
Takedown felt a heat spread through his chest as he realized what he was seeing. He was scared, had never been this scared, and would never be this scared again. He attempted to resuscitate Glimmer with the training he received from so long ago, but to no avail. He laid his wife’s head down on the table and carefully closed her mouth. Tears fell from his eyes as he cried over Glimmer’s body. After a while, he heard a cooing sound. He looked over and realized he still had the newborn in one hoof. He looked down at the little pony as it continued to coo and squirm. Its eyes opened, and two enormous yellow eyes looked back at her father. Father and daughter looked at each other for several minutes. The newborn gave a confused gurgle and Takedown picked her back up and gave her a small hug. He then held the pony out and looked at it from a distance.
His wife wanted the name Lightning if it was a pegasus, but was also fond of Aura. Even though the little pony wasn’t a unicorn, Takedown decided to honor his wife. He gave Glimmer one last kiss on the lips before flying out of the hospital. The foal gave what Takedown guessed was a “Whee” as he flew out through the hospital doors and out into the moonlight. He stopped in midair and looked at the foal, who was looking at her surroundings as best she could.
“Hey,” he said and the foal snapped her attention to him. “In honor of your mother, I now give you the name of Lightning Aura Strike !”
The GGG15 Years Later
Lightning stepped into Canterlot castle with Moon Gem and Sunset Breeze. After so many favors and bribes, she and her closest friends were finally at the famed Grand Galloping Gala. She flicked her dress with her tail, sending a cascade of sparks down its length.
Getting the dress made was not easy. The main problem was trying to keep it from exploding into flames during ignition. The sparks inside the dress were too hot and the dress material was too flammable. Lightning had had to call on the best dress makers from the greatest Equestrian cities, including Canterlot and a little town called Ponyville, where a master dress maker named Rarity created amazing designs for all seasons. Rarity had been able to create (or as she called it, divined) a highly flame-proof cloth that cost a pretty bit. But with money as no object, the dress makers collaborated and made an astonishing dress that, when irritated, would send a shower of sparks from the top to the bottom.
Lightning continued down the hall of the castle and stared at all the decorations and fancy ponies. She herself was a 15-year-old mare with a medium dark red coat, yellow mane and tail, and mustard yellow eyes. Her mane was normally straight (although for the Gala, it was in a bun) and had a bang that was shaped like a lightning bolt. Her tail style was similarly shaped. Her cutie mark had four small lightning bolts connected at one end in a circle. The most unique feature was that the cutie mark glowed white when its owner was in danger. Lightning said she liked being unique, but secretly, she hated being the center of attention. She liked seeing a large crowd of ponies, and galloping over to see what was so interesting.
“Lightning? Hello, you awake?” Lightning snapped out of her trance to find Sunset Breeze lightly shaking her.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry,” Lightning said slightly embarrassed.
“Come on, you two,” Moon Gem called out excitedly, already way ahead of the others. “I don’t want to waste a single moment.”
Lightning and Breeze smiled and followed Moon farther into the elegantly decorated castle. As far as Lightning could see, smartly and beautifully dressed ponies. Of course, this is Canterlot , she told herself. Eager to get going, Moon had disappeared into the dense crowd. Lightning and Breeze stuck close together and soon found a less packed part of the castle.
As the two sat down, Lightning glanced over to see Moon Gem pulling a red-coated stallion pegasus by the tail toward their table. The pony had brown eyes, black mane and tail, and a film reel for a cutie mark. He was only wearing a black vest. When Moon finally let go of him, he stood up and straightened his vest.
He cleared his throat before bowing and introducing himself. “Good evening, ladies. My name is Flash Film, or just Flash. May I have the pleasure of knowing your names?”
Sunset Breeze just about fainted. “H-hi. My name is Sunset Breeze, but you can just call me Sunset,” she said seductively, moving up to Flash. Lightning quickly covered her mouth with her hooves to keep the laugh from bursting out. Breeze spun her head toward Lightning and flashed daggers at her. Lightning just chuckled and moved to introduce herself to Flash.
“Good evening, sir. My name is Lightning Aura Strike. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She curtsied deeply. Flash bowed again. “It’s nice to meet you Ms. Strike. I say, I really like that bang you have.”
Lightning reached up and realized the lightning bang had slipped free of her bun. She tried to slip it back into its place, but it just fell right back out. Flash chuckled and moved over to Moon, with Breeze following right behind.
“Greetings ma’am. I am Flash-” He was cut short as Moon shoved her hoof into his mouth.
“I know who you are. You’re a film director. You did that film of the Equestian prisoners last year and why they should be spared the death penalty. Do you realize what they did to be put behind those bars?” She turned to Lightning while grabbing Breeze, who desperately tried to seize one of Flash’s hooves. He lifted his leg and she lost her grip.
“This is the reason I got a poor grade in that psychology class. I had chosen a topic on why the Equestrian prisoners, including thieves, muggers, killers, rapists, are piling up in the prisons and should be given the death penalty to convince others to give up their life of crime. It’s only a matter of time before they’re caught.” She turned and glared at Flash, who was visibly sweating. “This one,” she spewed, pointing at Flash, “said in his video, that all ponies deserve another chance. Prison is just a wake-up call, and that’s all they need. He gave no other arguments. I wrote six pages proving my point was better, and I got a D+!” At this point, Moon was positively fuming. Lightning decided that now would be a good time to leave before Moon unloaded her rage and killed Flash.
“Well, Flash,” Lightning said, pulling Moon back, “It’s been nice talking with you, but I know you’re busy.” Mouthing so only he could see, she said Get out or she’ll kill you . He got the drift. Flash turned and half-walked, half-galloped out of the Gala. Breeze gave a whimper of wanting.
Moon let go of both of her friends and Breeze immediately bolted in the direction that Flash had vanished.
“Let her go,” Lightning told Moon. “We can enjoy the gala, and she can enjoy chasing Flash. It’s a win-win situation.”
Moon humphed and followed Lightning to the buffet table, where they grabbed some food and headed to the dance floor. A giant gold alicorn statue stood off to one side and the music group across the room. It was composed of Frederick Horseshoepin at the piano, Octavia Melody at the cello, Beauty Brass on the tuba, and Parish Nandermane with the harp. Lightning let the music drift into her ears without really paying attention to it.
Everything went well for about another ten minutes, until Lightning realized she wanted some fresh air. She started toward the balcony, until she heard something; a name she knew all too well. She walked closer to listen in.
“Yes. The demon-child was named Lightning, if I remember correctly,” a brown stallion said to his friend and mare companions, who laughed at his remark. Lightning’s eye twitched and her heartbeat sped up. She felt adrenaline flood her body when she heard the next thing the hateful stallion laughed out, “That bitch, Glimmer, never knew what hit her.”
Trouble
Lightning turned to where the ponies were talking about her mother. There were two stallions, along with their mare companions. She started walking towards the group. Moon Gem noticed her advance towards the nobles and rushed in front of her.
“What are you doing, Lightning,” Moon asked concerned.
“They were talking about my mother. About the way she died and how the baby popped out like a spawn of the devil,” Lightning snarled as she attempted to shove her way through Moon.
“This isn’t the place for a fight. If you have a problem, go talk to Princess Celestia or one of the guards. But don’t make a scene if it can be easily avoided.”
“What would you do?” Lightning growled as she continued to fight against Moon.
“I would do what I just suggested, even though I may hate myself for it,” Moon said as she shoved Lightning back.
Lightning glared at the four ponies a second longer before whirling away in disgust. As she walked towards one of the balconies, she noticed her flanks were slightly warm. She looked down and her cutie mark was glowing lightly. As she watched, the glow dissipated and was replaced by the normal yellow hue. Moon looked on and smiled lightly.
“I wish I had a mark like that. You always get all the luck. All the guys notice you, and all the girls want to be you. And you have a cutie mark that glows. I don’t know of any other pony’s mark that does that, not even the Princesses.”
“Yeah, well, I wish I were more normal. The less normal I am, the more attention I attract from the wrong crowd,” Lightning said as she pushed through a crowd of ponies who had grouped around her.
She and Moon stood on the balcony and looked at the moon and stars. Lightning thought to herself about how, not even a year ago, the moon was slightly eclipsed by the Mare of the Moon, symbolizing the banishment of Princess Luna after her attempted coup. She remembered staring at the moon back when she was a filly with her dad and talking about the story of how Luna had ended up there. Lightning sighed and laid her head on the rail. She thought about nothing for a few more seconds before raising her head and turning to Moon, who had started talking to a younger mare.
“Could you excuse us, please,” Lightning asked the pony politely. The pony nodded, said a few more words to Moon, and trotted off. Moon turned to face Lightning. “What’s up?”
“Do you know where Sunset is? I lost her a little bit after we arrived.”
Moon looked around. There was no sign of her on the balcony. “I’m not sure. I’ll go check inside. I’ll be back soon.”
Lightning caught Moon’s leg as she started back to the doors. “Can you get me a drink? At this rate, I need one to help me make it through tonight.”
Moon smirked but agreed to bring a drink back after she found Sunset. She walked inside and was gone from view. Lightning turned back around and leaned on the rail again. She couldn’t get what those ponies had said out of her head. Of all the theories she had about her birth, that would have been the last one. Her father had never talked about her birth much, or even about her mother. When she asked, he would always reply, ‘Your mother was pure, but mistakes are in the past for a reason.’ She eventually learned that he wasn’t referring to her mother as a mistake, but whatever happened when Lightning was born, was.
She continued looking at the night sky and was amazed at what she was seeing. Usually, she didn’t spend time looking at such mundane and ordinary things as the sky, but as she continued to stare, the more she saw. She saw thousands of stars, and hundreds of constellations. When she had been younger, her dad would take her outside and they would sit beneath the night sky as he would point out the various shapes in the sky. As she had gotten older, her fascination with the shapes in the sky grew, so she got several books from the Canterlot library and would start recording which constellations were in the sky at what time, month, and their positions.
As she continued to look up, she heard talking and the sound of hoofsteps growing near. She turned her head, expecting to see Moon Gem with her drink and Sunset Breeze. But it turned out to be none of these things. It was the pony who had been talking about her mother, and tailing him was his friend and their two mare companions. Lightning turned away quickly, hoping that the pony didn’t see her and would walk to a different part of the balcony. But he choose to join Lightning at her spot.
“Well hello there,” he said in his rich, aristocratic voice that Lightning despised so much. “I haven’t seen you around before. What’s your name, honey?”
Lightning stiffened and her lip curled back in a snarl and it took all of her willpower to not curl her hoof into a fist and deck this stallion. She regained her composure and, without turning around replied, “It doesn’t matter what my name is. I don’t want to talk to you, so please leave.”
The snob beside her laughed lightly. “My my, are we feisty tonight. Say, why don’t you come back to my place tonight and I’ll show you what rich ponies like me do with their free time.”
Lightning’s self-control was starting to waver, but she held on. “No thanks. I’m sure you do everything illegal under Celestia’s sun and Luna’s moon and I don’t feel like getting involved. I’m sure your friends there can help you with whatever you want to do. But for now, leave me out of it and for the last time, leave me alone.”
The pony was now obviously getting angry. He grabbed Lightning’s shoulder and shoved to where she was looking straight at his hateful face.
“Listen here you little brat,” he breathed on her face, “I am the richest pony in all of Canterlot.”
“And also the one in most need of a lesson in manners,” Lightning muttered as she tried to push her way around the stallion. He wasn’t impressed with that remark apparently, as he grabbed her mane and slammed her face into the rough bricks of the Canterlot castle walls.
Lightning felt a hot rage growing inside her and her flanks started to grow warm again as her cutie mark shone with light. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see ponies coming out on the balcony to see what was going on. She also saw Moon and Sunset standing in the crowd with their mouths agape.
Suddenly, the pony was pulled off Lightning and she looked around to see what had happened. A couple of Canterlot guards had grabbed the assailant and were attempting to subdue him. Lightning straightened her dress, causing a ripple of static to sizzle its way down the length.
“Freak,” she said as she turned and started to walk back into the castle with the intent of leaving the gala. Then, from behind, she heard the sound of hooves hitting flesh and she turned in time to see the stallion barreling toward her with a crazed look on his face. She flinched and raised her hoof to protect herself. There was a blinding flash, a split silence, and then an enormous explosion ripped through the castle. Flames engulfed the pony and reduced him to ashes, and ponies started running around to avoid the flames. The inferno ran through the gala room, killing several other ponies who had the misfortune to still be in the room.
Parts of the balcony and cover started to crack and break off. Guests unfortunate enough to be on the far end of the balcony fell the thousands of hooves to the bottom of the chasm below Canterlot. Others were unlucky to be hit by large pieces of balcony cover. Those knocked unconscious ended up getting trampled by hundreds of guests trying to not get killed by flames or falling rubble.
Lightning looked around for her friends. In all the commotion, she had lost track of them. She pushed her way through terrified ponies and found them. She stood speechless at what she saw and her stomach heaved, forcing her lunch to leave her body. Moon Gem and Sunset Breeze were both laying beneath a large pillar that had been dislodged after the cover had broken and fallen. She didn’t have to go over to see that they weren’t alive. The pillar wasn’t for show; it was designed to hold up the weight of the balcony cover, as were the three others that lay scattered around. Two had shattered as they hit what remained of the balcony.
Lightning backed into the gala room. Inside wasn’t much better than outside as there was the same amount of pandemonium. Sobbing ponies holding the charred remains of their loved ones, some guests running around either with their mane or parts of their body on fire, and a drunk violet-red earth pony in the corner, looking at all the commotion with a drunken interest.
It took several minutes for the clamor to quiet down. Unicorn guards had come down and extinguished the fires on the gala floor as well as ponies. The Princesses even came down to see the extent of the damage and find the cause. Lightning was getting one of her wings bandaged after getting knocked to the ground and have somepony trample it as they ran past. The doctor examining Lightning’s wing told her to avoid using it for a while and left to check on other injured ponies when Princess Celestia called for silence using the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“We ask that you all remain calm as we try to sort out what had happened this evening,” Celestia called out, her voice back to normal. “Sister, can you round up all the guests who can’t find the ones who accompanied them and take them to the royal court room,” Celestia whispered to Luna. “I’ll be with you shortly. I just want to finish up here.”
“Very well, sister,” Luna said and proclaimed to the crowd in the Voice to follow her to the royal chamber if they couldn’t find the one who joined them.
Celestia turned back to the significantly smaller group. She surveyed the ponies either getting their wounds treated, waking from unconsciousness, or sobbing from the horror that had just occurred. She walked to the center of the gala floor and asked in a loud, clear voice, “Does anypony know who did this?”
There was a small stir among the ponies that remained. A murmur went through the crowd and Celestia caught words like “Lightning,” “attack,” “explosion,” and other incoherent phrases. She decided to use a different approach.
“Does anypony know what happened?”
This question was better received. One pony stood up, a dark green stallion with the remains of a nice suit hanging off his body. He looked dazed and one of his sides had a large gash that a doctor was trying to patch up, but he stood up tall. Celestia turned to face him. The stallion took a deep breath.
“Yes, I do. I was outside on the balcony enjoying the summer night breeze. There was an argument on the other side but I didn’t think anything of it. Leave it to the guards, right? Anyway, the argument escalated and started getting physical. This caught my attention, and I looked over in time to see a brown pony throw a red mare against the castle wall. I moved forward to stop him, but the guards got there first and pulled him off the mare and held him back. There was a large crowd by then and the mare started walking toward the entrance of the dance floor, but the stallion got free and ran toward her. She raised a hoof and there was an explosion. That’s the last thing I saw.”
Celestia thanked the pony. She asked if there was a red coated mare in the room. Slowly, the crowd around Lightning moved away from her and she was left alone in the center of a ring of ponies. Celestia fixed her gaze on Lightning and scanned her. Her eyes landed on Lightning’s cutie mark, and went wide with shock. She mouthed something that looked like, “I don’t believe it.”
“I am Lightning Aura Strike. I came to this gala with two friends hoping for a nice quiet getaway from high society and let loose for a while.”
“Then why didn’t you join Luna with the ponies who can’t find their companions?”
“Because I know where they are. They’re dead. I saw their bodies underneath a pillar out on the balcony.”
Celestia’s eye twitched slightly. She was getting aggravated about something. Lightning saw Celestia turn her head to one of her guards and whisper something to him. He stiffened and looked at Lightning before galloping out. He came back a couple seconds later with ten pegasi guards behind him. He pointed at Lightning and they fanned out.
“Lighting Aura Strike,” the Princess called out, “I would appreciate it if you would cooperate with my guards, lest you get unnecessarily hurt.”
By this point, the guards were closing in. Lightning looked around searching for an exit. She found a small gap between two guards and dashed between them. They tried to grab her but she was just a little too swift for them and ended up behind them and dashed for the ruined balcony.
“Stop her!” Celestia screamed, flaring her wings open and leaping up and flying toward the red pony on the balcony. Lightning couldn’t fly with a bruised wing and there was no turning back with an angry Sun Princess and her guards running at her. She had no choice. She rushed up to the balcony edge, looked back at the bodies of her friends, whispered “I’m sorry,” and jumped over the balcony edge.
The Everfree Forest
Lightning quickly stepped behind a tree as several pegasus guards approached. They all stopped on the other side of the tree that Lightning was hiding behind, and they split into four groups. They took off and after a couple of minutes, Lightning emerged out from her hiding place. She sat down and examined her damaged wing. It wasn’t broken, but the bone seemed bruised, which restricted her to the ground. She sighed, gently folded her wing, stood up, and examined her surroundings.
It was a forbidding place. Tall trees blotted out almost all the sun, and bushes on the ground sucked up what small light there was. She had heard rumors about a forest below Canterlot that had a strange feel about it; some said evil magic. Also, they said that the clouds moved on their own, with no assistance from magic or pegasus. And worst of all, they said that ponies that went in never came out, because the monsters that dwelled within were always looking for fresh meat. She knew where she was. This was the infamous Everfree Forest.
Lightning shook slightly. This was not the place she wanted to be. She would have rather faced imprisonment and execution without a jury. She decided that she was going to get out the way she came and find a way around. She turned around only to find that there was no entrance or exit. The way she had come in had vanished. She looked around in despair. There was no sign of light anywhere. She groaned, remembering her father’s advice for when she was lost: Continue walking forward until you find a familiar landmark.
“Great,” she muttered to herself as she started off in the direction she felt she came from. “Just great. That advice would be helpful if there was a familiar landmark!” She shouted the last four words. No response or sound followed. Silence was her only accompanying friend, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if that left, too. She continued trotting down the route she had chosen for close to twenty minutes without a sign of open fields, sky, or even searching guards.
Then she noticed something: a large tree with moss growing out of it in a bizarre spiral shape. She gaped with disbelief at what she was seeing. This was the exact tree she had hidden behind to elude the Canterlot guards! She had gone nowhere, except in a circle. She groaned again and flopped down. Her useless wing fanned out and dropped to the ground as well. “That’s just bucking great.” This day kept getting better and better.
===
After building a fire and cooking something with some kind of oil from some strange plant, she decided it was time to find a place to sleep. She managed to flap her one working wing well enough to gather the lowest pine needles from the lowest branches. She splayed them out into a workable bed on the ground. If she had more time, she could have made a hammock, but it was getting dark, and there was little light before. She curled up into a little ball, holding her tail between her hooves for comfort and warmth. She could still taste the bitter tasting plant she had eaten in the back of her throat where she couldn’t quite cough it up, and she couldn’t quite swallow it down.
“Worst haybacon strips ever,” she quietly grumbled before she closed her eyes and let sleep carry her off to a place far away from this cursed forest.
She was getting ready for the Gala with her friends, Moon Gem and Sunset Breeze. Each had a beautiful dress, made by the finest dress maker in Canterlot. Lightning had a dress that had a magical ability that when it caught the light just right, a large wave of static flowed down the length of the dress. The magic used to make electricity controlled and restricted with simple fabric was not enough, as the fabric burned when the static was set off. The dress maker had to gather the assistance of other dress makers from Canterlot, Cloudsdale, and Ponyville to design a fabric that was flame-proof, as well as would irritate the static within for a more impressive display. Needless to say, when the dress arrived, the bill from the dress maker was about as much as one of the smaller houses in the neighborhood, equaling no less than 5000 bits. But Lightning paid the bill, galloped to her friends’ houses, and started to get ready for the night of their lives.
Lightning woke the next morning to a strange sound next to her ear. It was a sort of snuffling sound, like when a dog sniffs your ear while you’re asleep. She stirred slightly, trying to get away from the uncomfortable breathing.
“Come on, sis. Let me rest. Go bother Dad,” she sighed sleepily before rolling back over and opening her eyes a crack. Her eyes flew open so fast she thought her eyeballs rolled 360 degrees in her skull before realigning straight ahead of her. Sleeping, not ten feet from her, was a giant translucent blue bear. Its blue fur was dotted with stars, and through it, Lightning could see trees and shrubs. She jumped up, bumping her injured wing on the nose of the sleeping Ursa Minor. The giant bear just moaned in its sleep and moved its head to the other paw.
Lightning started backing away, wondering what she should do. In her haste, she stepped on a twig behind her. The small SNAP was enough to rouse the Ursa. It opened its eyes, and yawned. As it fully woke up, it noticed a small red creature on the ground in front of it. She quickly ducked behind a tree as the Ursa Minor rose to its full height, which was taller than a two-story house. It started to sniff the tree Lightning was cowering behind, when she noticed her flank was warm. Her cutie mark was glowing again. She rolled her eyes. I realize I’m in trouble, mark , she thought to herself. As the Ursa’s nose hit the glowing mark, it recoiled with a snort. The large bear turned and waddled away, giving the tree one last look before disappearing into the underbrush.
Lightning let out a large breath and slid down to a sitting position along the tree. She tried to calm her frantic heart. She couldn’t believe she had almost been eaten, and she felt her cutie mark saved her. The Ursa had seemed alarmed by the glowing cutie mark. Maybe this could be used to her advantage? She continued through the forest, looking for an exit.
Lightning continued to walk for another hour until her nostrils picked up a stench that made her want to gag. She hesitantly moved forward to the edge of a ridge and looked over. Below her was a river of…something. And there was something in the river. It had three heads and was digging through the mucky river for something. A movement off to the side caught Lightning’s attention. She looked in time to jump out of the way of a Crocodile, whose jaws snapped shut where she had been standing. She whirled around, angrier now than afraid. The croc looked at her with hunger in its eyes. She gave a snort and the croc charged. Because of its bulk, Lightning easily dodged it and jumped on its back and gave it buck to the back of the beast’s head. It gave a strange squeal and ground to a stop. Lightning hopped off and moved to the croc’s face. As she moved toward the river, she gave the crocodile one more kick.
She leaped down the embankment, trying to avoid alerting the Hydra to her presence. She started to sneak around the river of sludge and almost made it. During the last couple steps, a large bubble from the river popped and a drop of the foul liquid hit Lightning in the eye. She gave a quiet gasp of disgust and pain, but it was enough to catch the Hydra’s attention. Three heads turned and six eyes fixed themselves on the red pegasus.
“Shit,” Lightning said. All three heads of the Hydra licked their lips and the body started towards her. Lightning decided it was time to stop playing around, because this creature probably wasn’t as stupid as the croc, or as timid as the Ursa. She spotted a large bubble off to the side. She ran and jumped at it, and the Hydra followed. Lightning landed on the large bubble and it popped just as she knew it would, propelling her straight up. She forced her useless wing to open. It may not flap, but it still made for a good sailing implement. Her other wing unfolded as well. She landed on the other side of the bank, but the Hydra wouldn’t give up on its prey. One of the heads went for the back of her body, and both of the other heads for her sides. Lightning gave a jump and gave a flap with her one good wing, sending her into a tight corkscrew. The three heads of the Hydra collided into each other, promptly knocking all three of them out simultaneously. Lightning landed on the ground again without a scratch. Seriously, were there any smart monsters anymore? She continued to walk, hoping she was getting close to the exit. This forest was getting more dangerous the farther she went.
===
Lightning cursed herself as she found herself in this cursed forest for the second night in a row. She figured that she would get out of the forest before dusk. She never imagined that the forest was this big. The only thing she was glad for was that she hadn’t run into any other monsters since the Hydra. But as fate would have it, she spoke too soon.
There was a blur off to the side so fast she didn’t catch it until it hit her with the speed of a daredevil pegasus. She slammed chest first into the ground and her arms were wrenched behind her back. She felt cold metal just above her hooves, and she knew what hit her: a Canterlot pegasus guard. They had finally found her. Another guard came out of the bushes, fixed a muzzle over her face, and began reading Lightning her rights. Well, I guess this is better than wandering through this forest for the rest of my life , Lightning reasoned as the guard on top of her pulled her to her hooves. She felt something go around her waist and the guard on front of her secured some straps across her belly. She felt some pressure across her wings and knew what this device was. It was a wing restraint system. It was used on criminal pegasi so they couldn’t use their wings. Now she couldn’t use her hooves, mouth, or wings. Not like I could use my wings if I wanted to.
The guards started dragging her away, until they stopped suddenly. Their ears flattened and they started backing away from the dark clearing. Two yellow eyes glowed from the dark and a timberwolf emerged from the trees. The guards bolted and took to the skies. Now it was only Lightning and the timberwolf in the low-lit clearing of the Everfree Forest. She slowly sat down and moved her hoofcuffed hooves under her legs and in front of her and started undoing the wing restraint from her chest, never taking her eyes off the wolf. The wolf growled low in its throat, drool dripping from its mouth. She finished undoing the straps and pushed it off her back. She then raised her hooves and proceeded to remove the muzzle. She really hated those things. They were way too tight and left marks if left on too long. She realized that she didn’t have the keys for the cuffs. Well, this will be interesting. Let’s see how long I can outrun a timberwolf cuffed before I’m caught. The timberwolf was now obviously angrier than before. The growl was much louder and it started moving at Lightning. Lightning got to her hooves, and started circling. The timberwolf followed suit. As Lightning got the spot the guards had starting dragging her to, she turned and bolted. She figured that if the guards were trying to take her this way, there must be a place to live over there.
“Come on, come on,” she muttered as she tried to run with the cuffs and their restrictive chain. She could hear the sound of the wolf crashing through the trees and plants behind her. It didn’t matter if it hit a tree straight on, it would just split apart and heal on the other side. She noticed something sticking out of the ground in front of her. It looked thin and strong enough to cut her chain, so she leaped as hard as she could with her hooves extended toward the sharp object. As the object cut through the chain, she rolled away from the sharp object and missed it so close that she felt the blade rub against her fur. She could now run full speed, and she did. As she took a quick look behind her, she saw the wolf run into the blade and stumble as it lost a leg. Lightning looked back forward and was relieved to see a small patch of light. She ran faster, knowing what waited ahead.
In just a few seconds, she burst through the forest into the light, still hearing the snorting and puffing of the timberwolf behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw six ponies and a lake. She tripped on a rock and fell heavily to the ground, and she knew her life was over. There was no way that she could get back up and still avoid getting eaten by the wolf. She lay on the ground and waited for the sharp teeth to puncture her skin and end her life. She had seen what those things could do to ponies. She waited, and waited. No teeth hit her. She flipped around to see the remains of the timberwolf lying around the ground. As hunger and exhaustion started stealing her consciousness, she heard an orange pony say in a country accent, “It’s a good thing we put up that wolf defense, ‘specially after las’ time.” Just before her vision was consumed by darkness, she saw a purple face appear above her and ask in a distorted voice, “Are you alright?”
Ponyville
Lightning woke with a start, sensing something was wrong about the environment. There wasn’t any rustle of wings or the snuffle of a sleeping Everfree monster. As her vision cleared, her pupils slowly grew to twice their normal size and her ears flattened against her head in awe. All around Lightning, were shelves and shelves of books. She had never seen so many books in her life. As she was not much of an avid reader, she had rarely set hoof in the vast Canterlot library. She preferred to have the books she required sent to her via mailmare.
As she continued looking at the numerous volumes adorning the walls of this new place, a figure on the second story stirred and Lightning heard a groan and a yawn. A light mulberry unicorn with a sapphire blue mane bisected by a violet and rose streak down one side soon appeared descending the stairs. Her cutie mark was two 6-sided stars, one rose and one white, stacked on each other surrounded by five smaller white stars.
“Good morning,” Twilight Sparkle greeted Lightning. “How did you sleep?”
Still gawking at the walls of the house, Lightning didn’t say anything. Twilight looked around and smiled.
“It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it? When I moved to Ponyville, Princess Celestia gave me this library and the job of librarian. She increased the number of books here when I took the job.” She giggled lightly. “I’ve read all of them at least twice.”
Lightning was able to find her voice at last.
“Where am I? And who are you?” Her voice was laced with the sound of light static, like thunder just before a storm.
Twilight finished descending the stairs and went to stand next to Lightning.
“You came out of the Everfree Forest with a timber wolf right on your tail. If I hadn’t been there with my friends, you may not be alive right now. As for who I am and where you are, my name is Twilight Sparkle. As well as the Ponyville librarian, I am also Princess Celestia’s private student. As you may have guessed by now, this is my home, as well as a library.” She turned and smiled at Lightning.
“By the way, how’s your wing? It was badly bruised, but nothing was broken. A broken wing can take months to heal, depending on how severe the damage is, and even with magic, it would still take at least three weeks to fully heal.”
Lightning looked down at her wing and extended it. It unfurled flawlessly with no pain. “Thank you, Twilight. I didn’t notice. It seems perfect.” She folded her wing back against her body and gave Twilight a small smile.
Lightning instinctively covered her cutie mark with her tail, much the same as Twilight had once seen Apple Bloom’s cousin, Babs Seed, do it. “Yes. For as long as I can remember, whenever I feel I’m in danger, it starts to glow. My parents said it was to help me find my way out of dark places. But I feel it’s just a beacon for monsters to find me.”
“I see,” Twilight thought for a few seconds before turning to look directly at her guest.
“I’m Lightning Strike. I’m from Canterlot.”
“Ohh. That would be the reason I haven’t seen you around before. Did you happen to hear about the explosion at Canterlot castle a couple days ago? I’ve been dying for information but nopony here knows what transpired up there.”
Lightning Strike tried to think about what happened, but there was a gap where that information should have been. She remembered entering the Grand Galloping Gala with Moon Gem and Sunset Breeze, but that was the last thing she remembered before being chased by Canterlot guards.
“No. I’m afraid I can’t remember what happened that night. Sorry.”
“All I’ve heard is that several ponies were killed. Wherever they were, the explosion couldn’t have been more than ten hooves from them.”
Upon hearing this, Lightning collapsed to the floor, breathing hard. Twilight looked down at her in concern and knelt down.
“Are you alright? You look a little green.”
Indeed, Lightning’s face was starting to take on a greenish hue, which contrasted strongly with her red coat.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” she jumped up and made a dash for the door and got it open before she vomited all over Twilight’s front steps. Twilight rushed over and after a bright flash from her horn, the mess on the steps vanished. She looked over in time to catch Lightning as she fainted and dragged her back inside.
===
Twilight was replaying the conversation she just had with this new pegasus in her mind when she thought of something. The red pony had flicked her eyes at the floor when she said that she didn’t remember anything about the Canterlot explosion. Twilight got an idea and turned her face to the top story. She called out to her assistant, Spike, asking if there was a book that would allow her to look into a pony’s mind that didn’t require a mentor nearby to monitor the spell in case it went awry.
“I’m sure there is, Twilight,” the baby dragon groaned from his bed. “You’ve got half the books in the Canterlot Grand Archives in here.”
Twilight blushed and started rummaging through her massive collection, picking up books with her magic, flipping through them, and throwing them aside. As she worked, the door banged open and Rainbow Dash flew in.
“Heyya Twilight. Watcha’ doin’?” the light cerulean pony with the polychromatic mane inquired as she almost flew into a pile of books swaying precariously. She landed and nearly trotted on the passed out Lightning Strike on her way to stand next to Twilight.
“Whoa! It’s her. What happened to her? Is she dead?” Rainbow hovered over Lightning and tapped her on the head a couple times with her hoof. Lightning remained motionless.
“She’s not dead, Rainbow. And as to what’s wrong, I’m not sure. I told her what I knew about the accident at Canterlot three days ago and she fainted. I’m not sure why that would have that large of an impact on her, but it probably means she knows more than she says she does. And please stop poking her. It’s not doing her any good.”
The hovering pony stopped prodding Lightning and gave Twilight a quizzical look. “Why not just ask her if she knows anything?”
“I did, Rainbow. She said she didn’t know anything about it, but she looked a little guilty when I asked. Now, I figure she’s either hiding information or she really doesn’t know anything. I figure that there’s no harm in trying to figure out the truth. Either way, I want to be certain before I send my report to Celestia about taking a mysterious pony in. She’d want to know all the details. After all, we all know how well that turned out the last time we did that.”
Rainbow didn’t say anything. She just set herself back on the floor and continued to watch Twilight skim through books before adding them to the already large tower. Every couple minutes, Rainbow would pick up a book off the floor and flip though it before throwing it aside. About a half hour later, the red pony on the floor started to recover. Lightning shakily lifted her head, and slowly got to her hooves. She looked at Twilight, the ever larger growing tower of books, and the new pony in the room. Without warning, her eyes grew a vibrant yellow and a small black thunderbolt replaced each of her irises. Images started to pass before her eyes, images of that night at the gala. She saw hundreds of the fancy dressed ponies of Canterlot, standing around, talking, eating, and laughing. She saw herself trotting from group to group, joining in the conversation or just listening and laughing with everypony else.
As the images stopped, she saw a transparent purple aura disappear from Twilight’s horn. Lightning swayed slightly, trying to get used to the strange feeling she just experienced.
“Sorry Lightning,” Twilight said, “but that memory spell can only be used on and an unsuspecting or willing pony. I should have asked your permission, but I figured you would just fight it. You’ll feel a little queasy, but it’ll pass quickly.”
The strange feeling soon left Lightning and she looked around again, catching sight of Rainbow Dash out of the corner of her eye. She turned toward Rainbow and asked, “Who are you?”
Rainbow smiled and jumped into the air, startling Lightning into stepping back several hooves.
“Me? I’m only the most awesome pony in all of Ponyville, probably even in all of Equestria. The name’s Rainbow Dash, but you can just call me Rainbow, or Dash, or…”
She caught sight of Twilight’s irritated look. Sheepishly, Rainbow lowered herself back to the ground, and approached Lightning.
“Just call me Rainbow. Everypony else does.”
“I think I’ve seen you before. It was at the Best Young Flier’s Competition a year ago, right? You were the one who did a Sonic Rainboom and saved the Wonderbolts and that falling pony.”
Twilight moved forward. “That was our friend Rarity. On the day of the competition, she convinced me to give her wings so she could fly around Cloudsdale while we waited. But unfortunately, she registered for the contest and flew too close to the sun. The wings caught fire because of their flammability. That’s when she fell.”
“How many other friends do you have?” Lightning asked. Twilight sat down and told her about the other friends that she made while in Ponyville. She talked about Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. As she talked, Lightning’s eyes never left Twilight’s face, hanging onto every word she said.
Hours later, after many stories with Twilight’s friends were retold, with many suspenseful stories from Rainbow Dash, Lightning wanted to get out for some fresh air and flying. She hadn’t flown for several days and her wings were getting stiff. Twilight was hesitant at first, but reluctantly agreed, on the condition that Rainbow never left her side, even while flying. Lightning agreed, and she and her companion left the library and walked around for a little bit, admiring the sights, sounds, and smells. Rainbow suggested that they head over to Sugercube Corner, as she had some cupcakes ready for pickup. She also said that Pinkie might be there so the two could finally meet.
A bell chimed as the pair walked into the delicious smelling bakery. Everywhere were cakes and pies of all different shapes and sizes including, from what Lightning could see in a back room, a large wedding cake, easily several ponies tall.
A blue mare with tall pink hair came trotting into sight from behind a door off to the side. “Oh hello, Rainbow Dash. Here to pick up your cupcakes for Pinkie Pie’s party today?”
“You bet, Mrs. Cake. Speaking of Pinkie, is she around? I wanted her to meet this new pony.” She put her hoof around Lightning and pulled her to her side.
Mrs. Cake dropped a package off onto the counter and took the bits from Rainbow Dash and put them into a cash register. “No, I’m afraid you missed her. She left just minutes before you came in. She told me to give you this note though.”
She slid a note across the counter to Rainbow before turning and disappearing into the back room. Rainbow grabbed the note and package and left the bakery with Lightning in tow. They headed to the middle of town, and stood looking at the town hall. The two looked up to see a light grey pegasus jumping up and down on a dark cloud.
“Who’s that?” Lightning inquired of the bizarre spectacle.
Rainbow grinned. “That is Derpy Hooves. She’s sort of a strange pony. Her eyes have been sort of everywhere except straight as long as anypony can remember. Doesn’t affect her mail route as far as I know. Apparently, she’s the best mail carrier this town has had.” She grabbed Lightning suddenly and pulled her out of the way of a bolt of electricity that slammed into the ground right where Lightning had been standing.
Lightning looked up again and leaped into the air and flapped her wings. She continued to climb until she was hovering at eye level with the grey mare.
“Excuse me, Miss Hooves? You should really stop jumping on that cloud. You’re sending lightning bolts at the ground that could hit another pony and cause severe damage.”
The silly grey pony continued to jump and lightning continued to pound the ground below. Lightning suddenly got an idea and let herself fall back to the ground. She positioned herself below the cloud, spread her wings, and waited. It wasn’t long before a bolt propelled itself at the red pony below. As the bolt passed between Lightning’s wings, she slammed them together and with a crack like a cannon, the bolt zoomed back up into the sky. It went through the cloud Derpy was jumping on and slammed into her. She gave a spectacular jump as several bolts zapped her from different directions. She stood there for a few seconds, smoking slightly, before she took flight and flew off with a silly grin on her face.
Rainbow gaped at Lightning in awe. “How did you do that?”
Lightning smiled and blushed slightly and looked at the ground. “It’s a little trick I picked up several years ago. A friend and I were walking down a trail when a storm started up. We started to run home when we were stopped by some bullies. They started shoving us around and prevented us from reaching home. We tried pushing our way past them, but they would just grab us and throw us back. They started picking on my friend and the storm was about as bad as it was going to get. I started running towards them when I was hit by a bolt of lightning. Instead of weak, I felt exhilarated and fully fueled. That was the day I discovered I could absorb lightning to replenish my strength and heal my wounds. When I felt that strength, I ran toward the assailant ponies so fast they didn’t have time to look around. I turned around and bucked one of them and, with a flash, he was thrown at least 60 hooves. The other pony backed off and fled. I tried to help my friend stand until I realized she had a broken leg. I looked up in time to see the sky light up and an enormous lightning bolt flew down at us. I jumped over my friend to protect her, my wings opening automatically. I realized they were open and snapped them shut just as the bolt landed between them. There was an ear-shattering CRACK and the bolt flew back into the clouds.”
Rainbow continued to stare at Lightning in amazement. The scarlet pony giggled lightly as she said, “What?”
Rainbow found her voice at last and exclaimed, “That. Is. So. Awesome!! You need to teach me how to do that!”
Lightning started walking again as she said, “I don’t think I can teach you that trick. It’s extremely difficult and dangerous. It’s kind of like your Sonic Rainboom. Many have tried it, but very few have succeeded at actually accomplishing it. And like your Rainboom, I earned my cutie mark after accomplishing that trick.”
“Bah. What’s so dangerous about trying to conquer lightning bolts?”
Lightning whirled on the cyan pony. “It’s extremely dangerous. If you are late by even a microsecond, you’re dead. Lightning contains several billion joules of energy, which is enough to push you through several layers of concrete as easily as you fly through clouds. The only reason I did it without the consequence of death is because I absorb electricity, and because it was done by accident. I didn’t even know it was possible, and after looking in all the myth books I requested from the Canterlot library, it doesn’t seem like it’s even been done before. The Sonic Rainboom was in almost all of them, though.” She spun back around and resumed walking.
Rainbow humphed. She looked at the sky. The sun was getting low and most of the sky was already full of reds, oranges, and yellows. “We better head back to Twilight’s before it gets too dark.” Lightning agreed and they both unfolded their wings and flew back to Twilight’s tree library as the sun made way for the moon to begin another night.
Ponyville
That night, Lightning lay awake on a spare bed that Twilight had materialized with her magic. She couldn’t get to sleep as her mind was filled with so many questions, mostly about what happened that night at the Gala. Was she the cause of the explosion? Did she really kill all those ponies? Were there Canterlot guards after her, right now? It was all so confusing.
She rolled over onto her side and gazed out at the moon, shining so bright across all of Equestria. She remembered a time star gazing with her dad. She stopped that thought abruptly and sat upright. Why could she remember something from when she was a young filly, but not a catastrophic event a few days ago? No answers came to mind, or from Luna’s night sky. She started to lay back down until she realized that her head was traveling longer than it should to reach the pillow. A fraction of a second later, her head collided with the wood floor with a sickening SMACK. Lightning muffled a scream as stars flashed across her vision and the taste of iron briefly filled the back of her mouth.
There was a stir in the next room and a second later, a purple aura encased the doorknob and the door quietly creaked open and Twilight poked her head in.
“Are you alright? What happened? Did you have a bad dream?” the purple unicorn asked as she stopped her magic and knelt down next to Lightning who was curled up into a ball.
“Just peachy,” the pegasus sarcastically replied as she rocked back and forth, trying to sooth the agonizing pain in her head. Twilight stood and started up her magic. Lightning was in too much pain to notice what was going on, but she vaguely heard Twilight say that she had just hit her head hard on the floor and that the pain should be over soon. She also heard the clopping of hooves and a small click as Twilight exited the room and shut the door.
Minutes after Twilight had left, the throbbing in Lightning’s head was all that remained, along with a fair sized lump. She pushed herself off the floor and back on the bed. She winced as the tender part of her cranium made contact with the soft pillow. She stared at the ceiling for a few more minutes before deciding that she should make use of the last few hours of the night to at least try and get some sleep. I’ll think things over in the morning, she thought as she turned and looked at the moon one last time before closing her eyes and falling asleep.
The next morning, Lightning was prodded awake from her slumber by a small green claw. She groaned and turned over and the claw, along with its owner, followed. Lightning felt a weight on her side and had an idea. She rolled back the other way, causing Spike to lose his balance and fall off. Lightning opened one yellow eye and stared at the baby dragon with all the anger she could muster while still being half asleep.
“What do you want?” she said coldly, her voice cracking slightly from her scream last night. She raised a hoof to the back of her head and only a small bump remained. She sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Sorry. What do you need?”
Spike stood up and held out a piece of paper.
“Twilight wanted me to give this to you. It’s just some information she wanted to give you.”
Lightning took the note and Spike walked out of the room. A little bit later, she heard the front door open and close. She looked at the note written in Twilight’s elegant mouthwriting:
Dear Lightning, by the time you get this, I will be attending
Lightning pulled herself out of the bed and shook herself. She found that this was a quick way to wake up and get the joints fired up. She walked out of the room and saw a small flash from behind her. She turned and the bed was gone. She put one of her back hooves back into the room and bed reappeared with a small flash.
“Twilight must have it like this so she doesn’t use up unnecessary magic when the room’s not in use,” Lightning mused. She turned back around and walked down the hall, with the bed vanishing behind her.
It wasn’t until she reached the front room that she noticed it was raining outside. She walked up to the window and peered out. The sky was almost black with thunderheads and there was no sun or clear sky in sight. Lightning considered this strange because the previous night Twilight told her that the pegasi would start the spring rain in two days, not the next day. She sighed and, not for the first time, wished she was a unicorn so she could summon an umbrella. Looks like I’m staying inside today, she thought as she walked to the book table in the middle of the room. She looked at the books resting on the table and finding nothing interesting, spun it. The table rotated and revealed no new books of interest to her. Spotting a strangely bound volume on one of the bookshelves, she trotted over to a ladder and rolled it over. She climbed up to the book and pulled it out.
The book was bound in brown leather with a picture of a golden unicorn head on the front with a turquoise eye. The book was beaten and worn, but was still in one piece with no loose pages. Lightning climbed down the ladder with her prize and threw it on the table. The book made a loud THUD and a large plume of dust exploded from the book. Lightning coughed and waved her hoof trying to clear the air. When the dust cleared, she flipped the cover open and started looking through.
The book contained many interesting topics. The first and longest section was a history of Equestria and the founding of the capitol, Canterlot. It went on to talk about the first Princesses and various projects they had accomplished to make life more enjoyable for their pony subjects. It also mentioned some revolutions that had occurred when agreements between the Princesses and ponies couldn’t be reached. A little farther on, the book described, in detail, the laws that had been set by the first rulers of Equestria. Lightning passed those on without giving them a second glance. She landed on a section that she was hoping would be in there: a military section.
She read for hours until the front door opened and closed and Twilight entered the library. The rain hadn’t stopped, which was apparent from Twilight’s dripping hair and purple coat.
“The weather ponies have really outdone themselves. If this keeps up, we may have a flood. Hopefully they’ll be able to deal with the clouds when the time comes. What have you been up to?” Twilight asked as she levitated a towel over and started drying off her hair.
Lightning didn’t reply. She was heavily concentrated on the book she had found. Twilight trotted over and dried the rest of herself off and looked at the page Lightning was looking at.
“Oh, you’re looking at the different weapons ponies used during the early revolutions and civil wars. Back then, it was pretty hectic. The ponies wanted rights proclaiming that they controlled their own property and stores, while the Princesses wanted full control of everything and everypony. Thus, it led to a couple bloody battles. Eventually, the third Princess agreed to let the ponies control their own possessions, but with the promise that she received part of whatever profit the ponies made.
It was a deal for many years until the payments to the Princess started decreasing to nothing. The ponies had decided to revolt and started manufacturing weapons and stopped paying the Equestrian ruler. She was furious and commanded that they stop making weapons and start paying her again. The ponies refused and it started a huge argument. In the midst of the shouting, yelling and screaming, a single arrow flew through the air and buried itself in the Princess’s chest.”
Twilight continued to recite the ensuing chaos that followed as Lightning followed along in the book. As she had been told by Twilight the previous day that she had read every book in the library at least twice, it wasn’t too surprising to hear Twilight recite the pages verbatim. Lightning had been quite interested in some of the magical weapons that ponies in the wars had developed. They would go into battle with no weapons, assess the situation, summon the needed weapon and attack with that. Some other, more powerful unicorns would materialize weapons from everyday objects, such as a rock or a blade of grass and turn it into a spear or a sword.
Lightning smiled to herself. Unknown to Twilight, she had been practicing summoning weapons from thin air. She knew she had some level of magical ability, but it was limited. When she started materializing weapons, she decided she wanted it to appear out of her hooves. Might as well, since you use your hooves for fighting anyway, she reasoned. Other ponies had been stupid enough to use up all that magic, only to die early on because they used their magic on a ridiculous place, like their tail or legs.
Lightning spun around so fast that Twilight was cut off half-word as a 4-inch long white glowing dagger, protruding from Lightning’s hoof, rested less than a centimeter from the unicorn’s throat. Twilight gulped, staring at the red pegasus as she withdrew her hoof and admired the white-hot blade.
“Amazing, isn’t it? Took me several hours to achieve a small one. By the time you got home, I had managed three inches, but as you’ve been talking, I’ve been pushing out as much concentration and power as I could to make it just a bit longer. Its default function is to be as hot as possible, but I’ve been trying to make it more…me.”
Twilight found her voice. “How did you do that?” she just about yelled in Lightning’s face. “You’re a pegasus, not a unicorn. Any magic you do have is directed for weather properties.”
Lightning simply shrugged. “I’ve always a little bit of extra magic. My dad said that it came from my mother seeing as she was a unicorn.”
“But it shouldn’t matter whether your mother was a unicorn or not. Each species of pony gets certain magical properties based on whether they will be a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony. It’s predetermined with the genes. In short, you shouldn’t even have this kind of magic.”
Twilight continued to rant as Lightning continued to gaze at her magic blade, occasionally poking the tip with a hoof. After about ten minutes, she pronounced to the room, “Done!”
Twilight stopped halfway through her sentence and asked, “What’s done?”
Lightning smiled mischievously and said, “Watch this.”
She walked a few steps back from the table to give her enough space to perform the task. When she was satisfied with the distance, she reared up on her back legs, and drove the blade on her hoof into the floor of the library. In the span of one second, the lights in the library grew blindingly bright and then promptly exploded, showering down sparks.
A hoof reached up and placed itself on Twilight’s shoulder. She looked up to see Lightning smiling at her weakly.
“Told you I wanted to make it more me,” she said. “For all your talk and knowledge, you should have known magic can be manipulated.”
Twilight chuckled lightly and wiped away some tears that had started to form. “I knew you could, but I never heard of a pegasus doing it before.”
“As you said yourself, most pegasi can’t even perform magic of this type.”
Twilight got up and looked at Lightning while bringing the candle closer so as to get a better look at her. “What exactly did you do to my house?”
Lightning smiled, tried to get up, realized she didn’t have the strength, and let herself fall back to the ground. “I overpowered the circuits. When I was finished modifying the spell, I used the blade to locate all the electronics in the house and increased its output tenfold. The lights could handle up to four times the power being sent to it, but when it hit five times, they blew up.” She looked over to Twilight who had gone a strange red color. Lightning guessed it was Twilight’s rage building up.
“What? There’s no permanent damage. All that needs replacing are the bulbs. Other than that, all circuits are fine.”
Twilight seemed to be calming down. “Very well. Just next time, let me know when you want to try another stupid stunt. There are places for that kind of thing in Ponyville.”
Lightning nodded and suddenly grabbed her chest. She let out a scream that started to lower in pitch until the walls were shaking from the deep bass waves hitting them. Twilight was back up against a wall, staring at Lightning in fright. Lightning’s eyes had gone a pure white and there was white light leaking out from them, as well as her open mouth. There was a bright flash and Lightning once again collapsed to the ground. Twilight rushed over and checked for a heartbeat. She couldn’t hear anything, or feel anything when she checked for a pulse in Lightning’s neck.
She started to panic when Spike walked in the door. Due to his dragon sight, it wasn’t that dark for him, and he spotted Twilight and the unconscious pegasus at once. He rushed over and asked what happened. Twilight told him of Lightning’s unnatural power, her experiment, and the darkness that followed as well as Lightning’s lack of a heartbeat. Spike thought about it for a second, then walked over to the red pony on the floor, leaned down, put his mouth on hers, and breathed out. Lightning gasped and her chest fell and rose and again. Spike turned to Twilight whose mouth was open wide in shock. Spike didn’t have enough knowledge of magic ailments, so he suggested that they allow Lightning to sleep for a few days and recover from what had happened. He climbed up the stairs, walked to his bed, and promptly fell asleep.
Twilight got over shock of seeing her assistant kiss Lightning and used her magic to place Lightning on her back. She walked back to the guest room. The bed reappeared as Twilight entered and placed Lightning on the bed. She pulled the covers to cover Lightning’s body and suddenly had a thought. When she was a filly, her parents would kiss her forehead when she was sick. The unicorn looked around to make sure nopony was watching and placed a small kiss on Lightning’s forehead, exited the room, and closed the door.
Twilight walked back out the candle-lit room and sat on the couch. She figured that it wasn’t wrong to treat Lightning like a filly. After all, she wasn’t that old, only 15 years old or so, which made her about half as old as Twilight. She sighed and lay back, letting her body slide along the couch until she was laying down. She shows potential , she thought as her body started shutting down for sleep. When she recovers, I’ll teach her how to use her magic and get control , Twilight thought as she drifted off to sleep and the candle on the table blew out.
Powers
“Twilight, where are we going so early,” Lightning whined as she, Twilight, Spike, and Rarity made their way to a clear field between the Everfree Forest and Ponyville. Lightning shot a fearful glance at the forest. “We’re not going into the forest, are we?”
“Dear heavens no,” Rarity replied from behind her. “Do you think I would have accepted Twilight’s invitation to teach you magic control if we were going into the dirty forest?”
Lightning honestly wasn’t sure. She hadn’t met Rarity until earlier that morning. According to Twilight, Lightning had been unconscious for almost two full days. Twilight had made some coffee to help boost Lightning into waking up and gave her a small breakfast to give her body the fuel it needed for today’s lesson. Lightning’s body and mind wasn’t having any of that talk and as soon as Twilight laid a bowl of soup in front of her, Lightning fell asleep and her face landed in the bowl. Twilight had just watched as bubbles appeared when Lightning exhaled, and the soup level go down as she inhaled. Even when asleep, she could apparently drink soup, or maybe she was having a drink in her dream. At that point, Rarity opened the door as Twilight tried to revive Lightning. Her head had slowly lifted with soup streaming off her mane and face.
“Anyway,” Rarity continued, “you must learn to have proper sleep before eating. Surely you learned that food is for eating, not sleeping in.”
Lightning just grumbled sleepily as the four of them stopped in a wide clearing. Spike jumped off Twilight’s back and laid out a picnic towel. The three ponies and dragon sat down on the mat and faced each other. Lightning wasn’t sure what they were doing, so she decided to pose a question.
“So what are we doing here?” she asked, bringing a hoof up to scratch at her face.
Twilight was the first to respond. “Rarity and I are going to teach you how to control your magic. You showed that you have magic that most pegasi shouldn’t, so it’s only natural that we teach you how to use it so you don’t kill yourself or anypony else.”
Rarity piped up, “Indeed darling. I can remember when I was still learning magic and I accidently set my parents bed on fire.”
Lightning giggled lightly, but stopped when Rarity glared at her. “Anyway, I was sent to a special school where they taught unicorns to properly use their magic in a way that wouldn’t cause any harm. I was there for close to a year before I learned to harness my magical abilities. Before I knew it, I had complete control of levitation and other such abilities. We are going to teach you the same, but hopefully it won’t take a year, and we aren’t sending you to a school just to learn some magic.” She chuckled lightly.
Twilight nodded in affirmation. “As Rarity said, we will teach you how to better control your magic. We won’t be able to teach you any uses, because different magic does different things. It also depends on the strength. I can teleport but most other unicorns don’t have the power. Any tricks you learn will have to be from your imagination and ability to pull it off. Rainbow already told me you can absorb electricity and repel lightning bolts. That’s some powerful magic and an impressive ability. But we’ll have to get back to that later.”
She got up and walked over to a clear section of the clearing. She motioned for Lightning to come over too. Lightning got up and walked toward Twilight and stopped when they were about 30 hooves apart. Twilight looked at Lightning and started up her magic, her horn covered by a purple aura.
“Alright, Lightning,” Twilight called across the field. “This is your first test. I’m going to send some low energy pulses at you. I want you to deflect them. You won’t be able to fly or move for this exercise.”
Lightning felt pressure at her hooves and sides. She looked down and saw that her hooves and wings were covered in blue magic. She tried unfurling her wings, but they remained securely pinned to her sides. She sighed and turned back to Twilight, who was in a crouching position. She got prepared for what Twilight had cooked up.
Twilight’s horn glowed white and a small purple ball, no more than 4 hooves in diameter, slowly drifted across the field toward Lightning. She started concentrating in the little energy ball, willing it to disappear or start going in the other direction. The ball continued its slow travel straight for Lightning’s chest. She tried to move out of the way, but her magical restraints wouldn’t let her move. She tried using her wings, but to no avail. The ball finally made contact with Lightning’s fur. With a small sizzle, it burned a small patch of fur in Lightning’s coat. She just stared at the small black mark on her chest and without warning—BAM! Lightning was lifted and thrown several yards across the field. She made contact with the ground and slid several more hooves until she stopped.
Twilight and Rarity rushed over. Lightning was on her back, hooves curled into a fetal position. She coughed before saying, “No more. Hurts.” The two friends helped her up. Lightning staggered slightly, but regained balance after using Rarity for steadiness support. They walked Lightning back to the spot she had been before. She shook her head ferociously and backed away, tears streaming down her cheeks. Twilight and Rarity sat down by Lightning and explained that learning magic from scratch was never easy and often painful. Rarity recited a story where she had tried to use magic and ending up breaking another student’s leg. Twilight said she had managed to make Shining Armor’s horn disappear and it took several hours to get her to calm down enough to retrieve it.
After an hour of comforting and consoling, Lightning was ready to give it another try. She stood in her spot as Rarity’s magic held her in place. Twilight sent another slowly moving energy ball at the red pegasus. Lightning struggled to get her magic to activate, but it was no use. The session ended with the same results as the first. Lightning coughed up some blood, but decided she would keep going until she got it. After a couple more hours and several energy balls later, Lightning barely looked like herself anymore. Twilight had turned down the concentration in the energy, so when they connected with the unfortunate pegasus, it was like getting hit with a bowling ball. She was covered in welts and barely had coordination control. Rarity’s magic holding Lightning in place was actually a relief, else she would have been stumbling all over the field.
“Lightning,” Twilight puffed, exhausted from using so much magic, “Can’t we just call it a day? I mean, look at you. You can’t even stand and my magic is running low. Throwing energy isn’t like levitation, you know.”
Lightning breathed heavily several times before replying, “One more time. I think I know what to do.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, squeezed her them shut, and produced another magic ball. Once again, it made its way across the field. Lightning was ready this time. She had felt something at the end of their last trial. Near her forehead, she had felt a small spark, and noticed the ground in front of her had shimmered. She reached her pegasus magic toward her forehead and found something small and hard. She pushed her magic into the object and felt a flood of power elate her body. Lightning gave a hard push with her mind and a transparent yellow wall appeared in between Lightning and the energy ball, which collided with the wall and vanished with a small flash.
As the wall receded into the ground, Lightning felt some energy return to her body. She could now stand without her legs trembling her to the ground. Rarity’s magic ended and Twilight galloped over. Lightning looked at the ground where the wall had appeared and disappeared, and smiled. She had successfully defended against Twilight. Twilight reached her and looked her up and down.
“Are you alright?” she asked worriedly. Lightning fur was badly singed and almost her whole body was black. Twilight could no longer tell whether the red showing was Lightning’s fur or the result of her own magic.
“Yeah. I’m doing great. I beat you, didn’t I?” Lightning bounced ecstatically.
Twilight breathed heavily. She had used a lot of magical energy. “I think we’re done today. Let’s go home and get you cleaned up.”
===
Several hours later, Lightning was sitting in a bathtub as Twilight stood nearby. Lightning was attempting to clean up her fur of scorch marks.
“Lightning, that won’t work. Your fur is burned. You’ll just have to wait for it to grow out.”
The small pegasus pouted and put the soap back in the holder and continued to sit in the bathwater. Her yellow eyes lit up as she remembered something.
“Twilight?”
The unicorn turned to look at Lightning. “Yes, Lightning?”
The pegasus grinned widely. “It’s my birthday today.”
Twilight looked up in surprise. “Really? How old are you?”
“I’m 16,” Lightning said proudly, showing off two rows of perfect white teeth in a grin that rivaled Pinkie’s.
Twilight thought of a question and fought with herself for a couple seconds before deciding to ask it. “Is this your first birthday away from home?”
Lightning’s ears flopped down. “Yes, it,” she said hesitantly, as if she wasn’t quite sure.
Twilight considered the hesitation. But it slipped her mind as the door slammed open and a rainbow blur slammed into Twilight, throwing her and the uninvited guest into the bathtub. Lightning gave an ear-piecing shriek and jumped out. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her waist as the two other ponies attempted to untangle themselves in the confined space of the tub.
“Ugh. Rainbow Dash!” Twilight snapped at the cyan pegasus, who managed to untangle herself and fly up to the ceiling. “How many times have I told you to knock? I’m doing important projects in here, you barge in, and I have to start over. Plus, you almost killed Lightning!” She stepped out of the tub and motioned to the pegasus quivering in a towel against a far wall.
Rainbow Dash looked over. “Sorry Lights. Didn’t see you there. What did you do to yourself? Fall in the fire?” Lightning tried unsuccessfully to cover her burnt body. Rainbow rushed over, but smashed into a transparent yellow wall. Lightning had raised her hoof and was controlling the wall’s height and position. No matter where Rainbow moved or how fast she was, the wall always got there first.
Rainbow landed and Lightning released the magic saying, “Twilight taught me magic control today. I can now create a shield of pure magic at will.”
The cyan pony started toward Lightning, but Twilight cut her off.
“That’s enough, Rainbow,” Twilight said, sounding angrier than Rainbow had ever heard her. “Today’s not the day. Maybe tomorrow, when it’s not Lightning’s birthday.”
Rainbow stared blankly at Twilight, and then to Lightning, and understanding hit her.
“Your birthday? It’s today?” Rainbow asked incredulously. Lightning nodded in affirmation.
“I was trying to get her cleaned up for a private celebration, but there’s no chance of that happening anymore,” Twilight said, moving toward Lightning. “I guess we have no choice but to let Rainbow stay here and have a real party.”
Lightning was surprised. She had never had a birthday party with anypony except her father, and it wasn’t really a party. It was a couple gifts, a hug, a kiss on the forehead, and an “I love you.”
“That sounds great, Twilight,” Lightning beamed. “I’ve never had a birthday party before.”
“Then it’s a good thing I know the perfect party planner. She’s known from Equestria and be-” Twilight was cut short as an explosion of confetti blew out from midair. A pink Earth pony with a slightly darker mane and tail bounced out of the cloud of confetti. She had three balloons as a cutie mark and a smile that stretched from ear to ear. “I guess I don’t need to bother with getting her anymore.”
“Did somepony say PARTY?” Pinkie Pie practically screamed in the small library. Lightning stared at her in slack-jawed amazement. Pinkie turned to face her. “Oh hello. I’m Pinkie Pie, the best party planner in all of Equestia.” The pink pony was now speaking very fast. “I would love to make you the most amazing incredible tremendous super-fun wonderfully terrifically humungous party in all of Equestria that you will never ever forget in your whole super-duper spectacular life!” Pinkie then took a large gasp of air as she had not taken one during her speech.
Lightning just stared at Pinkie speechless, mouth still open. She looked over to Twilight. Twilight nodded. “You can trust her. She’s a friend.”
Lightning stepped forward cautiously. “Um, I don’t know what to say. I guess it would be alright, if you wa-”
“Ohmygosh, I Pinkie Promise that I will give you the best party ever!” She then recited her oath with the appropriate hoof motions. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
Lightning still didn’t know what to say about the pink pony. She was certainly an interesting character, that much was clear. She suddenly thought of something. “Pinkie, how can you make this party so fantastic?”
Pinkie grinned and Twilight knew what she was going to do and say. “With my party cannon, silly,” Pinkie giggled as she produced a blue cannon from behind her back and pushed the small button on top. With a BANG, the cannon blew party decorations all over the library, ranging from more confetti and party hats, to a cake that landed on the table. Lightning just stared in amazement and soon felt a smile creep onto her face. “Pinkie, this is amazing!”
“Well then, let’s get down and PARTY!!” Pinkie yelled as music started blasting from nowhere. She fired off the party cannon a couple more times, making sure the entire library was properly decorated.
Over the next several hours, Lightning, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Pinkie danced, played games, ate to their fill, and sang Happy Birthday and cheered as Lightning blew out all 16 of her candles. She had to admit that this birthday was the best one she ever had.
As the night grew late, Twilight pronounced that it was time to go to bed. Lightning was staggering around from exhaustion and Rainbow was having trouble flying due to the amount of cider she drank. Pinkie pressed the button on top of the cannon once more and all the decorations and confetti flew into the darkness of the barrel. She took her exit, leaving Twilight, Lightning, and Rainbow alone in a surprisingly clean library.
Rainbow wobbled up to Twilight, cider strong on her breath. “Hey Twilight? Mind if I crash here for tonight?” she slurred. “I probably shouldn’t fly home tonight.”
“Sure, Rainbow. You can sleep on the couch down here tonight. Lightning, you should get off to bed, too. You’ve had a big day.”
Lightning yawned and made her way to her room. The bed reappeared as she entered, but suddenly had an idea. All the lights turned off in the library and Lightning quietly snuck out of her room. She quietly trotted over to Twilight’s room and walked in. She went over and stood in front of Twilight’s bed. The unicorn, sensing a slight disturbance in the air flow, opened her eyes slowly and sat up.
“What is it, Lightning? Is something wrong?” she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
Lightning nervously rubbed her hoof against the floor and blushed lightly. “I was wondering, since it’s my birthday and all, if I could sleep with you tonight.”
Twilight straightened up. “Lightning, don’t you think you’re a little old for that? I mean, you’re 16 now.”
Lightning put her front hooves on the edge of Twilight’s bed. “Please, Mom?”
Twilight’s jaw dropped. Lightning, realized what she had said, gave a squeal, covered her mouth, and turned a bright red that showed through her burnt fur. Twilight regained her composure, leaned forward and gave Lightning a big hug. She then moved over and patted the bed. Lightning crawled onto the bed and pulled the sheets up. Twilight gently brushed the hair out of the pegasus’ face and said softly, “Welcome to the family, Lightning Aura Strike.”
===
Lightning woke up to sunlight streaming directly on her face. She covered her face with a hoof and remembered that she had slept in Twilight’s bed the previous night. She rolled over to see that she was alone in the bed. She threw the covers off and swung out of bed, giving herself the morning shake. She walked downstairs where she was greeted with the smell of cooking.
“Good morning, Lightning,” Twilight called up the stairs upon seeing Lightning. Lightning finished descending the stairs before rushing over to Twilight and giving her a tight hug. Twilight returned the embrace before letting Lightning go so she could eat her breakfast.
Lightning sat down at the table to wait for the pancakes and eggs that Twilight was making. “Twilight, I just want to thank you for that party last night. That was the most fun I ever had during my birthday.”
Twilight smiled. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. Everypony should have a birthday party at some point in their life.” She brought over a plate with two pancakes on it. She walked back into the kitchen and came back with a smaller plate with some scrambled eggs. She laid the plates in front of Lightning as Rainbow Dash stirred on the couch where she had been sleeping.
“Ugh. Twilight, why are we eating in a library,” Rainbow asked groggily as she flapped her way over to the table. She grabbed the plate of eggs from Lightning and started scarfing them down before Lightning grabbed Rainbow’s nose, scraped the food back onto the plate, and put the plate back in front of herself. She eyed Rainbow while eating the remains of the eggs.
“Because,” Twilight, who had just missed the food ordeal, said, “It’s not opening time, and I live here.” She reappeared with a plate of eggs for Rainbow.
The rest of breakfast went by quietly, save for Rainbow Dash complaining that her eggs weren’t as good as Lightning’s. Lightning just stuck her tongue out at Rainbow and finished her eggs. She then stole Rainbow’s plate of eggs and took off with them, with Rainbow chasing her.
Twilight soon realized that while Lightning was otherwise preoccupied, she could use the memory spell she used when Lightning first arrived at her home. As Lightning and Rainbow Dash argued over eggs and other nonsense, Twilight started up her magic, directing her glowing horn at Lightning. The fight between the two pegasi stopped immediately as Lightning’s eyes grew a vibrant yellow and her irises were replaced by tiny lightning bolts. She was on a balcony overlooking the gorge that Canterlot was built upon. A brown stallion walked up and started harassing Lightning. He started getting violent and was soon restrained by a couple Canterlot guards. He broke free and lunged at Lightning. She raised a hoof and-
Lightning stood straight up and looked at the Twilight through slitted eyes. She felt the sick feeling leave her as a new sensation filled her. It felt like power was being pumped into her body, and a crackling sound was filling the air. Her cutie mark lightning bolts expanded and traveled down each of her legs and glowed a radiant white. She rose up on her hind legs as the twisted form of a lightning bolt materialized on the bottom of each hoof. She took a step toward Twilight and as the bolt made contact with the floor, a circle of electricity flashed out across the floor in a one foot radius. As her cutie mark started to spread up her neck, Lightning smiled menacingly and spoke in a voice that contained enough electricity to make Rainbow’s and Twilight’s mane and tail stand.
“I AM LIGHTNING AURA STRIKE, DAUGHTER OF THE MOST POWERFUL LIGHTNING PEGASUS IN HISTORY!! YOUR PATHETIC ATTEMPTS TO TAME ME ARE FRUITLESS AS MY BODY CONTAINS ENOUGH POWER TO FRY ALL LIVING OBJECTS IN EQUESTRIA!!”
Rainbow Dash jumped into the air. “Oh yeah? We’ll see about that!” She raced toward Lightning, intending to punch her across the face. However, Lightning was too quick, and flicked her tail, sending a bright yellow bolt at the attacking pegasus. It hit Rainbow squarely in the chest and sent her hurtling into a far wall with a wide black burn mark where the bolt had struck. She slid down to the floor, dazed. Lightning turned her attention on Twilight, paralyzed with fear where she stood. Lightning smiled again, and her normally straight hair slowly raised itself until it was standing straight on her head with small arcs of static jumping from strand to strand. Her cutie mark had now spread across her entire body in ribbons of long, glowing lightning bolts. Twilight’s horn glowed but she couldn’t gather enough concentration to think of a spell to cast.
“YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE LEFT. I’LL TAKE MY TIME KILLING YOU.”
Her eyes grew transparent and, similar to a marble, all that was visible was the other side of the eye. In Lightning’s eyes, small arcs of electricity jumped from one side of the inside of the eye to the other. As Twilight watched, the light in the pegasus’ eyes grew more frantic and malicious. Twilight came to the fact that she was about to die, and nopony was going to save her. Then, it came to her: the teleportation spell! Of course! How could she have been that stupid? That should have been the first spell she thought of when everything started to go wrong. She concentrated on her destination, but the spell wouldn’t release the magic. Lightning spoke the words that Twilight feared so much.
“YOUR MAGIC WON’T WORK AS LONG AS MY ENERGY AURA ENCLOAKS THIS ROOM! YOU WILL DIE HERE AND NOPONY WILL FIND YOUR REMAINS!!”
Twilight had one more hope.
“Spike!” she screamed to the dragon sleeping upstairs. No response.
To keep it that way, Lightning shot a bolt of energy from her tail. It shot straight out, slowed as it turned around, and sped straight down where Spike’s bed was. A bright flash and fireball later, Spike’s bed and whatever was in it was gone. Twilight’s ears fell flat to her head and her pupils were only dots. Lightning laughed, and Twilight bowed her head, accepting her inescapable fate. As the pressure of static grew almost suffocating, there was a THWAK, a sharp CRACK, and accompanied by a two grunts and a crash. Twilight dared open her eyes and saw Lightning sail through the air into the pile of books that promptly fell on her. Rainbow Dash was over by the wall, this time with a blackened hoof as well as the blackened chest. She must have regained her senses long enough to kick Lightning hard enough to knock her out, but with the amount of electricity covering the red pegasus’ body, Rainbow suffered another burn. Twilight walked over to her cyan friend and found a pulse, feeble as it was. They would both need to get to the hospital. She looked back to the book-covered Lightning. She would have to get Celestia to deal with her.
She looked around the wrecked library before breaking into sobs. So much trust and so much destruction yet again. Just like Nyx , she thought before shaking her head and driving that thought from her mind. She continued to cry until, exhausted, she fell asleep on the library floor, but not before sending a distress signal of her magic out of the window and into the sky in the direction of Canterlot.
Prison
“So, you are Lightning Aura Strike. I wondered when you would show up,” Celestia almost spat at the chained Lightning. The pegasus wore a magic restraining collar around her neck and a wing belt. The collar kept unicorns from performing any magic and the wing belt, which wrapped around the middle of the torso and had straps to hold the wings down, kept pegasi from flying. In addition to the magic restraints, Lightning also had shackles locked to her back hooves. She looked up at the goddess, who continued to glare at her.
Lightning had been laying half-conscience on the floor of Twilight’s ruined library for almost half an hour before Celestia had appeared in her golden chariot. She used her magic to levitate Lightning’s limp form and deposit her next to her. She had summoned two more chariots where she used her magic to transport the two bodies of Twilight and Rainbow onto them. After this task, the Princess had sent the chariots off while she used a more powerful memory spell on Lightning. She sifted through Lightning’s life, starting with her birth and ending with just a couple hours earlier. Satisfied, she flew back to Canterlot with Lightning in her chariot.
Once in Canterlot, Celestia had given the body of Lightning over to a couple of guards. She had told them to do what they wanted, but to keep her alive. Several tortures were carried out, from being pulled on a rack, to having her wing bones smashed, to attempted rape. Lightning had enough strength to fight off the guards during those scenarios, leading the guards to knock her unconscious and returning her to Celestia.
“Yeah. So, what do you care? I’ve got things to do, so if you’d just-” Lightning’s words were cut short as Celestia smacked her hard across the face with a hoof. She landed hard on the ground and the collar made a soft clink on the stone floor.
“You’re talking to the ruler of Equestria, you little brat. If you had a horn, I’d snap it off right now. Alas, I can’t break your wings as they are already beyond repair, and wouldn’t bring me any pleasure if I can’t bring you as much pain as you have brought to me.”
Celestia levitated Lightning to eye level with magic. Lightning struggled weakly and choked as Celestia stared into her captive’s eyes.
“You are a disgrace. You disgust me. I should have killed you that day 16 years ago.” She dropped Lightning, whose legs buckled under the impact of hitting the floor. “At least I had the pleasure if finishing off one member of your filthy family.”
Lightning got to her hooves and glared at the Princess with the same amount of hatred in her eyes as the Princess did back. She lowered her head and spat out a small mouthful of blood. She raised her head again and a small drop of blood slowly ran down from her mouth to her chin. She raised her hoof and wiped the blood off. She slammed her hoof down to the ground.
“You feel threatened by a single pegasus who just happens to be stronger than you. You’ve met me once and you already figure I killed those ponies at Canterlot during the Gala. Well, let me tell you something, Princess,” she sneered the last word, “Two of those ponies were my closest friends. But you wouldn’t know anything about friends, would you?” Lightning said this as more of a statement than a question.
Celestia was so angry at this point that her horn was glowing with her yellow aura. Lightning also saw her body quiver slightly from suppressed rage.
“Do not push me, Strike. You have already exhausted my patience and insulting me will not make this imprisonment any more pleasant. You know NOTHING of your past. You do not know why your mother died during your birth. You do not know why you have constant headaches, or why your father kept you away from other fillies during your fillyhood, or why other ponies treated you like a common thief. I know the answer to all these questions and more.”
===
Lightning had been laying on the cold stone floor for close to an hour. Celestia had just finished telling her everything about who and what she was. She still couldn’t believe it. There was a rattle in the lock and the door slowly swung open. Twilight walked in as the guard behind her told her to knock when she wanted back out. The door slammed shut and the two ponies were alone with each other; one pegasus and one unicorn. Twilight nervously scratched the floor with her hoof as Lightning’s eyes slowly moved from the purple mare to the floor and back again. Finally, Twilight spoke, “How are you doing, Lightning?”
The red pegasus raised her head and stared at Twilight for a couple seconds before breaking down into sobs.
“How am I? Look at me! I’m in a maximum security prison with a magic collar and wing belt and chained to a wall. I’m accused of the highest crimes, and will spend the rest of my life here. Plus, I’m 16, my wings are smashed and my forehead is killing me.” She rubbed her forehead with a hoof before continuing. “And it’s all your fault, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight recoiled a bit at this accusation. “My fault? All I did was send the Princess a note after you destroyed my house and tried to kill me and Rainbow Dash! She’s currently in the hospital in critical condition and may not recover. Her body absorbed too much of your magical lightning. If she dies, I’ll never be able to forgive you, and I’ll see to it that you’re executed.”
Lightning just scoffed and turned away, chains sliding across the floor. “You aren’t the first or the last pony to bear a grudge against me. Ever since that fire at Canterlot Elementary School, I’ve been blamed for all strange happenings everywhere. That hydra attack, I was blamed. Dragon attacks, I was blamed. Misdelivered letters, I was blamed. I don’t enjoy living as a recluse, but everypony wants fresh air without all the residents of that town glaring at you and wanting to slide a sword across your throat.”
Twilight looked down and started hoofing the floor again. She turned to leave as Lightning spoke up behind her. “Did you manage to see what the sign outside my cell said?”
Twilight stopped and thought a moment. “Yes, as a matter of fact I did. It said ‘Alicorn Holding Cell.’”
She seemed to understand what Lightning was talking about. “Wait a second, you’re not an alicorn, so why are you in here?”
Lightning smiled bitterly. “I thought you of all ponies would know. Being Princess Celestia’s student, I figure you’d have been told this. Have you heard of the Alicorn Prophesy?”
The purple pony turned to look at her. “It sounds familiar, but the Princess said it was more commonly known as the Double-Effect Sickness, where ponies were being born with twice as many appendages as they should have had. She and Luna had to go around to pregnant ponies and cast a spell to make sure that the unborn filly wasn’t infected.”
Lightning turned back around and moved toward Twilight, chains dragging behind. “That is true, but only in part. There was an outbreak of pony pox, but that quieted down quickly. One pony was born with an extra wing, but he turned out to be an excellent flier. And the two Princesses did go from door to door to cast spells upon pregnant ponies. But it wasn’t because of a disease. Sit down, Twilight Sparkle. Your Princess told me the whole story. You should know the truth as well.”
Secrets
“Many ponies know about the prophesy telling of the arrival of an alicorn with strength not yet seen. This prophesy was predicted by the last Princess before her death more than 1000 years ago, as is customary for the rulers. Celestia received this message and relayed it to Luna when she was old enough to understand. This prophesy told that a pegasus and unicorn would give birth to an alicorn of unnatural magical and physical strength. This pony would be a mare, and would be given the name Lightning Aura Strike. She would find fault with the leaders of the world, lead a rebellion against them, and be successful.
For 1000 years, Celestia and Luna searched Equestria for a cross-species family with the name Strike, but to no avail. But early in the search, Luna attempted to assume control of Equestria and was banished to the moon. Celestia knew that there was no hope of finding such a family by herself, so she prophesied early that Nightmare Moon would return after 1000 years. The year Luna returned would give the two sisters five years to search for the hidden family before the baby was born. So after 1000 years, Nightmare Moon escaped from the moon, and the six ponies bearing the Elements of Harmony defeated her, bringing balance between the Sun and Moon.
After the return of the Moon Goddess, Celestia devised a new plan that she believed would be more effective than searching for a single family; she would target any pregnant pony and by using magic, neutralize any triple-gene DNA. This rare bonding comes from a pony who carries a double-gene bond, either Pegasus/Earth, Pegasus/Unicorn, or Unicorn/Earth. The other pony can only have single-gene DNA of a different species, such as Pegasus/Earth with Unicorn. Even with these requirements met, it’s almost impossible to get an alicorn offspring. The three types of DNA have to bond seamlessly. Any loose ends and the pony would just be an ordinary pony. In theory, all ponies can produce an alicorn baby, but the chances of those two ponies meeting are also almost impossible as Equestria is so large, and there are even more lands over the sea.
Celestia gathered all her strongest unicorn guards and the palace medic pony and having them all combine their power, created a holographic map of Equestria which included places such as Ponyville, Manehatten, Las Pegasus, Baltimare, and beyond. From there, the medic would pour special magic into the map, and it would show the current location of registered pregnant ponies. Since the prophesy, Celestia had decreed that all pregnant ponies register themselves. As they were located, Celestia and Luna would fly to the location and, telling the mare they were vaccinating the fetus against dangerous diseases, would split the ends of some DNA strands to ensure that the newborn would never be an alicorn.
This continued for five years. All the time, they would ask the families if they knew anypony by the name Strike. All the ponies they visited declined having any knowledge of this family. Until one day, a young couple entered Ponyville, the female obviously pregnant.”
At this point, Lightning stopped talking. Twilight looked up from her notepad on which she had been taking notes. Lightning was looking at her with intensity, as somepony would before asking somepony else to do something completely ridiculous.
“Is something wrong,” Twilight asked, concerned. Lightning gulped slightly before voicing her request.
“I cannot go on verbally. If you wish to know the true secret, you need to do me a small favor. You need to remove this collar.” She nudged the magic restraining collar around her neck.
Twilight recoiled in shock. “I can’t do that! It’s illegal to remove a prisoner’s restraints without permission or removal by a Princess or a pony of similar rank and status. If Celestia knew I removed it, I’d be joining you in here.”
Lightning’s gaze turned cold with calm fury. “Imagine this, Twilight Sparkle: Everything you learned from Celestia is wrong. You spent, what, most of your life studying under her? You said yourself that your favorite subject is History and Historical Figures, ergo you learned the basics of the past Princess and her prophesy. But you only learned what the Princess told you. She didn’t show you anything. That’s why I need this collar removed. I can show you everything. I can show you what can’t be spoken.”
Twilight bit her lip and looked between the collar and Lightning’s piercing gaze. She started to back away, but she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her violet eyes again, and approached the prisoner.
“Very well, I will remove your collar, but your wing restraints and shackles stay on. If I see you trying to remove them either by magic or other means, the collar goes back, I leave, and Celestia is notified. Is that understood, Lightning Strike?”
Lightning’s yellow eyes blinked, and for a second she didn’t move. Then she nodded her head and said in a voice that radiated control and command. “I understand and comply with your rules and demands, Miss Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight looked at the scarlet pony for a second longer before she bowed her head and a purple aura enshrouded her horn. For several seconds nothing happened. But then Twilight started to rise from the ground and she opened her eyes. Her eyes had gone pure white with light from the amount of magic she was using. Her magic aura suddenly shifted from purple to a golden yellow. Lightning recognized that color. She had been cloaked in that aura when she was being carried from Twilight’s ruined library. It was Celestia’s aura.
The lock on the collar around her neck clicked open and fell to the stone floor. She removed the collar and dropped it next to the lock. She shook her head and her mane flowed and crackled lightly. “That feels so much better. You have no idea how heavy those things are.”
Twilight replied in a slightly disgusted voice, “I believe I do.”
Lightning looked over to Twilight and asked, “Are you ready to see what really happened?”
Twilight gulped and nodded. Lightning fixed her eyes on Twilight and her whole body went rigid. If Twilight went over and pushed Lightning, she would have fallen to the floor. Lightning’s body began to go through a process similar to when she attacked Twilight back at the library, but this time, her cutie mark didn’t spread to the rest of her body. It remained in its fixed position on its owner’s flank and shone brightly, pulsing slightly.
Twilight suddenly felt like she had been hit in the face with something heavy. She stumbled back a couple of steps as some blood trickled from her nose. She looked around and realized she wasn’t in the dungeon anymore. She appeared to be standing outside of a hospital. Something moved beside her. She turned quickly to see Lightning fall out of a tree. She shook herself off and went to stand next to Twilight.
“I haven’t practiced magic much. It usually happens unexpectedly. Pegasus magic can be rougher than unicorn magic. Hold still, let me fix that.” She gestured to Twilight’s nose. Twilight shook her head vigorously. The pegasus looked at her in slight exasperation. “I may not have practiced magic much, but I can control healing magic.”
Twilight sighed and closed her eyes. Lightning concentrated on Twilight’s nose and her cutie mark flashed quickly. The small trickle of blood from Twilight’s nose stopped and the trail running down her face slowly vanished. “There we go,” Lightning replied happily. Twilight turned and scowled at her. “Do you have a bipolar disorder?”
Lightning shrugged and looked around. Without warning, she grabbed Twilight and pointed out two ponies walking toward them and the hospital. One was a small female, heavily pregnant, and the other, Twilight guessed, must be her husband. The male was strongly built, with large black wings and a neck length black mane. His red eyes shone intimidatingly under his black bangs. The mare was a lavender colored unicorn with a short brown mane. Her brown eyes were tired but determined.
“Those are my parents,” Lightning said quietly. Twilight turned to her and saw a tear slide down her face. “I never got a chance to meet my mom. She died when I was born.” Twilight put her hoof over Lightning as the pony couple passed.
They entered the hospital, spoke to a nurse by the name of Redheart (Twilight noticed she was younger than she remembered), and were asked to be seated in the waiting area. They did as they were asked and didn’t have to wait long until they were both led to a room. The stallion helped the mare onto the stainless steel table, and squeezed her hoof. She looked at him and smiled tiredly, and he returned the smile. With a soft creak, the door opened and Princesses Celestia and Luna entered. They both greeted the couple, and the two ponies returned the greeting.
“This is what your Princess never told you about. Watch carefully,” Lightning breathed in Twilight’s ear. Twilight watched as the two Princesses approached the couple. Luna asked the black stallion to join her and the two ponies exited the room. As Lightning and Twilight watched, the pregnant pony and Celestia exchanged some words before Lightning’s mother gave Celestia permission to give her a vaccine. The Princess lowered her head to the purple pony’s swollen belly.
As Celestia’s glowing horn made contact with Glimmer’s skin, the pony’s body suddenly and violently stiffened. Her eyes rolled back as Celestia started pouring magic into Glimmer’s body. She tried to scream, but all that escaped her throat was a gurgle. She convulsed on the table and tried to fight the Princess off. Celestia summoned ropes that held Glimmer’s arms and legs down. Now that the pony was tied down, Celestia could finish her spell. Glimmer continued to spasm under the ropes and realized something: this must have been a setup. This wasn’t the hospital. While she had been thrashing, she caught a glimpse of another hospital out of the window. This was a trick and they fell right into it.
Lightning directed Twilight’s shocked stare to Celestia’s face. There was a demonic smile plastered there and small pupils. Twilight had never seen the Princess like that before. So this is what power hunger looks like , she thought. She’d never be able to look at Celestia the same way. As she started thinking that she would have to have a talk with Celestia when she got back, Lightning nudged her. “You can’t tell anypony about this. I trust you to keep quiet about this.”
As they watched, the spell the Princess had left on Glimmer’s body finally took effect. The belly shimmered and turned transparent. Lightning moved forward and motioned Twilight toward her. They both stood on a stool on the other side of Lightning’s mother. They peered into the body of Glimmer. Twilight took on a slightly green hue and started to back up. Lightning walked over and pulled her back over to Glimmer. “I felt the same way when I first saw this.”
Twilight quickly calmed down and started recognizing the various organs. She owned several books on anatomy and could name every single internal organ she saw, including things such as the aorta and other veins and arteries. Her gave traveled down to Glimmer’s womb and froze. The spell had moved to the uterus and exposed what was in there. A tiny pony was curled inside. Even inside a dimly lit area, she had prominent red fur, and light yellow mane and tail. Twilight’s mouth was hanging open in awe and amazement at the sight before her. She had seen plenty of pictures of ponies who had passed on and donated their bodies for science, but this was a new level. She could see everything work on a living specimen. She could see the heart beating just behind the two large lungs, which expanded and contracted with the mare’s breathing. She could see the arteries darken slightly as fresh blood was pumped through them. But the little unborn foal intrigued her. Twilight saw the tiny thing move around and saw two odd bumps on its back. It took her a second later to figure out that those nubs were wings. She continued to observe the fetus as it shifted and turned its closed eyes towards her. She gasped. It all made sense now: how Lightning could use magic, the special cell, the collar. She was looking at a small horn protruding from the baby Lightning Aura Strike’s forehead. Lightning was really an alicorn.
===
“You’re an alicorn!” Twilight exclaimed. She grabbed Lightning’s head and started knocking on the spot where Lightning’s horn should have been.
“It took you this long to figure it out?” Lightning asked, struggling to get free from Twilight’s hold on her head. “You need to finish seeing this.” Twilight let go and continued to watch the Princess with the next phase.
Celestia levitated a strip of cloth over to the mare’s mouth. Glimmer tried to pull away, but with little success being tied down. The cloth made its way between her teeth and tied itself behind her neck. The mare gave a terrified squeak and started panting with fear, tears streaming down her face. Celestia ignored her and turned herself to the mare’s exposed insides. She focused her sights in the slowly rotating foal in the uterus. As she lowered her glowing horn into the mare, Glimmer through the cloth was clearly panting the word “No” over and over.
Celestia’s horn passed through the mare’s transparent belly and made contact with the uterus. It started pulsing as magic was pumped to the unborn Lightning. Glimmer was covered heavily in sweat, but whether it was from pain or fear was not apparent. Lightning and Twilight stood on the stool again and peered inside to see what was happening. A ribbon on yellow light from the Princess’ horn was squirming near the foal. It made contact with the baby and started worming its way into the fetus, eventually disappearing from sight.
Twilight gasped. The baby had started to glow and the horn was shrinking back into the foals head as they watched. It completely vanished within seconds.
“Princess Celestia, what did you do,” Twilight yelled at Celestia. The Princess didn’t appear to notice Twilight.
“Twilight,” Lightning said, “it’s no use. This is just a memory. We don’t exist here right now. They can’t see us or hear us.” She moved a hoof toward Celestia. “We just go right through them.” She moved her hoof, and although it appeared to be touching the Sun Goddess, she paid them no notice.
Without warning, Glimmer opened her mouth and, past the cloth, let out a scream. Lightning motioned to Twilight. The unicorn joined the pegasus on the floor and watched as the small yellow ribbon of magic emerged from the other side of the table. As it fell to the ground, it left a gaping hole in the table and, past that, a hole through the body of Glimmer.
“Celestia didn’t turn off her magic. That particular piece of magic is fatal if not terminated after its initial purpose. I believe Celestia let it run on purpose, just to kill my mother,” Lightning growled through clenched teeth. The two ponies stood again and watched as the transparency on the mares stomach faded to its normal opaque lavender color. No sign of trauma was evident.
The door behind them exploded, wooden shrapnel flying everywhere. Takedown raced into the room, red eyes alert and scouting. He saw his wife gagged and his very body seemed to glow as fury filled him. “What did you do to MY WIFE!!” he roared and flew at Celestia, catching her squarely across the body and sending her smashing into lockers full of medical equipment. Luna was in the room by now, and rushed to her sister’s side.
“Sister, are you alright,” Luna asked concerned. Celestia spat some blood out of her mouth and glared at the black pegasus before her.
“How dare you attack a royal Princess! Are you aware that the penalty for attacking a member of the royal family is death?” she shouted. She fired a blast at Takedown. He covered himself with a wing and the spell bounced off. Celestia and Luna were stunned.
“Sister, we should leave before we cause any more damage,” Luna reasoned. Celestia looked once more at Takedown before flaring her wings and flying straight through the roof. Luna followed suit, gracefully flying through the hole her sister made.
“That was all the Princess showed me,” Lightning gasped. She wasn’t used to traveling through memories, and the experience left her feeling nauseous. “Everything after that my father told me.”
Twilight still seemed a little shaken by the sudden change of location. She blinked to clear her eyes. “What happened to him? Your father, I mean.”
Lightning shrugged. “He disappeared a couple days before I went to the Gala. He didn’t say he was going anywhere, but he rarely did. His job required immediate action. He didn’t have time to tell us bye whenever he left.”
“I need some time to think this over,” Twilight muttered, more to herself than to Lightning. She started pacing the dungeon floor. She suddenly stopped and faced Lightning. “We need to get you out of here. I can’t do it right now. You need to wait for me to come get you.” She used her magic to slip the collar back in Lightning and lock it again. She kissed Lightning on the forehead and knocked on the cell door. The guard appeared and opened it, letting Twilight out and reclosing it, leaving Lightning in darkness.
Author's Note
This is the only chapter not reviewed by my editor. If you notice any typos, errors, etc., please let me know, and I will fix them as soon as I can. Thanks!
Lightning’s Aura Strike
Lightning stood at the front of a large battalion of ponies ranging around 20,000, along with a couple griffins, a few zebras, three dragons, and a tribe of buffalo. The majority was comprised of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies, all of whom had rallied to Lightning’s cause and felt that they had been betrayed by Celestia and Luna. She had seen many of these ponies walking around with nothing but a frown. Just because Equestria looked happy and peaceful didn’t mean it didn’t have problems: homelessness, drunkenness, severe weather, etc., and the Princesses did nothing to try to correct the problems.
Lightning looked at the group, assessing skills of each species. She wasn’t concerned about her job as leader. While at Twilight’s library, she had read many books on pony leaders in the past and, in disguise, played the part of an excited filly in town asking veteran ponies about how to be a great leader. The elders were more than happy to supply information of what they could remember about their experiences of combat and their leaders.
Lightning had even asked Twilight what she knew, and Twilight had spent the rest of the day convincing Celestia to let her borrow a book about Equestrian military methods and skills. Celestia scanned Twilight’s tree house to make sure she wasn’t hiding Lightning inside, and then reluctantly relinquished the book to her pupil. Since then, Lightning had read over the top secret military strategies for several days and nights with no rest. When she finally did collapse from exhaustion, Twilight let her rest in her bed and she slept for several days without waking up. Twilight would check on her every couple days to make sure she hadn’t passed away. When Lightning woke up, she was so weak she couldn’t even get out of bed. After 2 weeks recovery, she was back to her old self and ready for an assault on all of Canterlot.
Twilight had convinced her to stay for a few more days and secretly gather troops within Ponyville. She then sent each of her friends to each of the big Equestrian cities to gather more recruits. Cloudsdale, Canterlot, Ponyville, Crystal Empire, Manehattan, Baltimare, and Las Pegasus were all reached. Each of the ponies had found a couple hundred recruits in each city.
Lightning looked at the list she had compiled. Cloudsdale had fast flying ponies, Canterlot had retired royal guards and weapons, the Crystal Empire had a royal couple who knew royal secrets. Manehattan, Baltimare, and Las Pegasus had strong Earth ponies combined with ponies in nursing and doctoring, and Ponyville had a mix of Earth, Pegasi, and Unicorn. Lightning herself had even gone to the Bad Lands and rallied the help of a couple dragons. She had assigned the task of weapon and armor-making to the Canterlot ponies, and got the rest of the squad training and practicing tactics, including hoof-to-hoof combat.
Several months had gone by like this. Lightning had been watching and had chosen her leaders of each wave. Of the Cloudsdale team, she had chosen Rainbow Dash and the grey mare with lopsided golden eyes. Rainbow was fast and fearless, and Derpy because, despite her crazy eyes, was ruthless and precise to a frightening level. One of the guards had discovered a Canterlot spy in the camp and was given to the interrogating crew to extract all the information they could from him. After much torture, they handed the spy to Derpy, who tied him to a tree and, from 500 hooves away with her back turned, threw a knife and hit him in the dead center of his chest.
He hadn’t been the only spy either. Two months after Lightning had started training troops, a group of about 10 ponies came up to her and asked to join their cause. Lightning agreed and started them on training right away, and that night, they snuck off back to Canterlot to inform the Princesses of what they saw. The next morning, five pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies set off in pursuit of the 10 traitors. Lightning used the unicorns to sense magic, pegasi to fly above and spot ponies below, and the earth ponies to buck trees to knock frightened ponies out of them. At least one pony had made it back to Canterlot with enough sanity left to tell the goddesses what he knew of Lightning’s operation. Celestia was so enraged that her entire body glowed yellow-white and the survivor was vaporized. She sent out a reward for anypony who could bring back any information on this operation. Since then, Lightning and the others had caught, questioned, and executed over 20 Canterlot spies. Lightning was certain that no more information had gotten out.
Her 17th birthday had long since passed and she started approaching her 18th. She was thinking about when Twilight got her out of prison. She had spent 6 months in that hell-hole, hoping every day that this would be the day that Twilight would spring her. But no. Each day, she was dragged out of the cell, and either strapped to a crossbeam and whipped with bladed whips, or chained to a rack and stretched. Celestia would oversee the torture every day. Lightning knew she just wanted to hear her scream, so she would keep her mouth shut, occasionally letting out a whimper. She would then be taken back to her cell, shackled to the wall, and one of the guards would always kick her on his way out. At one point she had managed to shock a guard after he removed her collar, sending him flying out of the cell. After that, the collar was instructed to never come off, and the Princess had used a spell to alert her if the lock was opened. Lightning was forcibly drugged every day, the guards sliding a tube down her throat into her stomach, and dripping a liquid through the tube.
Lightning shook her head to bring herself back to the present. The day was drawing to a close and the troops needed rest for the assault tomorrow. She trotted over to a strange contraption on a raised podium that Pinkie Pie had made at her request. Pinkie said that it would get everypony’s attention and let them know the leader required them. It was a box shape, with a black disk on the top, a crank on the side, and a large cylindrical object on top that fanned out. Lightning cautiously placed a needle attached to an arm on top of the black disk. Instantly, Pinkie’s voice, amplified several times, boomed out over the field, “PARTY!!” All the troops instantly stopped their activities and looked over to Lightning. She stepped down from the podium, hair blown straight back. She pulled it back down as Pinkie jumped out of the sound piece of the device and bounced in front of Lightning.
“What did you think? I call the ‘Party Phonograph!’” she asked excitedly.
“Well, Pinkie,” Lightning said, trying to get her ears to stop ringing. “It was certainly loud. And you.”
Pinkie hopped away happily. Lightning wondered how anypony could be happy with a war just hours away. She walked out to the front of the group that had gathered and spoke.
“As many of you know, tomorrow is the day we enter our war with the Equestrian monarchy. It has been a tough year and a half, dealing with betrayals, my commands, and training. But all that will prove invaluable tomorrow morning as we move to wipe the true injustice from this world. But to first do that, we must get the required amount of sleep to heal any injuries we have obtained. Anypony with injuries please see Rarity and Fluttershy for medical attention before retiring.”
Lightning turned and headed to her tent as the ponies behind her dispersed. She flopped down on her sleeping bag as there was a tapping on the canvas tent. She flipped onto her back and produced her magic knife from her hoof. It crackled with electrical energy as she said, “Come in.”
A nervous looking colt entered, eyes widening at the sight of the blade, which Lightning quickly retracted. She motioned for the colt to come in. He did so carefully, as if the tent contained many valuables. He sat down on the sleeping bag next to Lightning and started twiddling his hooves. Lightning looked to him. “What is it, Rumble?”
Thunderlane’s younger brother looked up to her with tears forming in his eyes. “Miss Strike?”
Lightning leaned to meet his eye level. “You can call me Lightning. What is it?”
Rumble swallowed. “Will my brother be safe?”
Lightning took the question into consideration and chose her next words with care. “Rumble, I can’t guarantee everypony’s protection. Most of them have to watch out for themselves. The rest will be in pairs or groups, giving them a better survival rate. I believe I placed your brother in a two pony group. But I’ll tell you what,” she smiled gently as she lifted the tearful colt’s face to hers, “I’ll keep a close eye on Thunderlane and make sure he returns home safely. How does that sound?”
Rumble sniffed and rubbed his nose with a hoof. “That sounds cool. Thank you, Miss St- I mean, Lightning.”
Lightning smiled again and kissed his nose. “It’s no problem, kiddo. Your brother’s lucky to have somepony who cares so much for him. Now, you better be heading back home.”
Rumble stood up, gave Lightning a hug, and exited the tent. Lightning laid back on her bag and sighed. She knew the hardship that families faced with a loved one in the war. Not all the troops were going to make it home, she knew that. If half of the troops made it out alive, it would be a miracle. Even for those who didn’t lose a loved one, they would almost certainly lose a friend. Everypony was going to either be emotionally or physically broken by the end of this war.
Lightning shook her head. No, I will protect all the ponies the best I can. No doubt that some royal forces will descend on Ponyville and nearby towns to cause mayhem and destruction to hurt us. Also, I’m certain that there will be troops protecting the Princesses. If we wipe out enough of the royal army, I can go after the Princesses with little or no trouble. Either way, I will protect any of my troops that I can. I swear. I promise! She thrust a hoof into the air before fatigue slipped into her eyelids. It will be worth it, Mom.
===
Lightning woke up several hours later and exited her tent. She blinked and looked at the sky. It was cloudy, and every cloud was blood red.
“So, Celestia wants blood,” she mused out loud, before looking out to her troops tents. She sent a tendril of her cutie mark to her throat and opened her mouth. White magic poured out as Lightning’s amplified voice bellowed out over the field.
“Rise and shine, troops! Today is the day we begin our fight for freedom!”
The tent flaps started opening and bleary-eyed ponies started stepping out onto the field.
“Morning troops! As you see, Celestia has sent us a red sun!” Gazes looked up and returned to Lightning. “This signifies that she wants this battle! She wants spilled blood, so we will bring it to her, but it won’t be our blood, dammit! It will be hers, her troops, and all others that oppose us! We will cut them down! We will take back what was ours! WE WILL BE FREE!!!”
A deafening cheer rose from the troops, as well as a few roars from the dragons that had returned for the battle. Lightning smiled as her cutie mark retreated back to her flank. She disappeared into her tent as the rest of the ponies packed their few belongings up. She emerged a few minutes later wearing a black chain mail jumpsuit, as well as thick leather boots that extended all the way up her legs, with an electric blue sword on a belt attached to her waist. She had the sword custom made for her by the retired Canterlot guards she had recruited. They had added a feature that when she shocked it, it would send voltage high enough to heat up the blade to impossible degrees. She had swung it at a tree after activating it and it cut through the tree cleanly with little resistance.
Her hair was up in a ponytail, as she had a blue pony with a pink mane from Ponyville cut it for her. She had it shorter because it could get in the way during the fight which, in a full-scale war like this, could prove fatal. She also had her tail trimmed to match her mane. Her fur had grown out the burn spots from training with Twilight, leaving her trademark red coat blending in with the red haze. Twilight. They hadn’t seen each other in a year, mother and daughter. I guess if I don’t make it through this, good-bye, Mom. Lightning wiped her eyes and straightened up. It was no time to get emotional now. She had almost 25,000 troops to control, and minutes away from the war of the century. No other force in history had taken out two Princesses, and no force would ever again.
“Ok everypony,” she yelled, voice magnified again. “Grab a partner and have a quick sparring match! This is for wake up purposes only! Do not break anypony, or else you’ll have to explain to me why you broke my simple rules! Dismissed!”
She watched as ponies broke off into two (or three in some cases) and struggled against each other in hoof-to-hoof combat. After ten minutes, she stopped the troops. It was finally time. Time to make history. Her red wings shot out of two slits at the top of her jumpsuit and extended to their full length. As Lightning and her troops stood on the battleground of change, shadows stretching long across the red sun lit field, the Princess of the Sun gazed at the large battalion from the highest tower of Canterlot, fully decked out in her golden sun armor and battle ax.
“Let them come.”
To Be Continued…
Acknowledgements
Man, it’s almost been a year since I started writing this story, and more than a year since it started as a tiny idea in the back of my mind. I never imagined that people would actually like it. It was just a little something that I wanted to put down on paper and, once on paper, it looked pretty good. So I spent the next 9 months writing it out and periodically putting it on my FiMFiction account. I must say, I think it’s turned out pretty good so far. But, it could have been worse without the help of two truly awesome people.
First, my editor, Jason “Takedown” Osborn. I thank him for letting me use his two OCs for Lightning’s parents and, of course, editing. All but Secrets was reviewed by him before I uploaded the chapters (he was having some fun in California when Secrets was released while I was stuck in New Mexico). So big thanks to him, his suggestions, and editing skills.
And second, my Skype friend, FlashDrake. Man, where do I start? If it wasn’t for him, I’d still be stuck on The Everfree Forest and the story would still be On Hiatus. His helpful suggestions and ideas helped me back on the path to finishing. As a shout-out and thank-you gift to him, I used his OC in The GGG as the film producer Flash (I don’t know if all the stuff his OC in the story believed was the owners beliefs or not). In addition to helping with ideas, I let him write the party scene in Powers. I just can’t write for Pinkie Pie, being a literal person. And finally, FlashDrake helped me come up with a name for the sequel. Yes, there will be a sequel, but I’m probably going to take a little break from writing before uploading anything else. Anyway, thanks again for sticking by me, through all my questions, nagging, and angry outbursts.
~~I had the idea for a sequel for a while, and probably decided to actually do it about the time I wrote Ponyville Pt. 2 (June 2014). So, keep your eyes open for Lightning Aura Strike: The Equestrian Redeemer for the epic conclusion to Lightning’s quest. Story will be rated M for gore, language, and sexual content.~~
If you made it to this section on the page without hitting the Back button, congratulations. I don’t have much else to say, but if you want your OC to be featured in LAS: TER, leave a comment or PM me. Well, that about wraps up my acknowledgements. I do have one more to make: I want to thank EVERY SINGLE person who read the story, giving me the views, ratings, and favorites to keep writing. I can’t thank you enough.
So, I hope to see you all in the next installment. Until then, good bye.
-MB-