The Life Of Lightning Flash

                                                                                      Chapter Twelve

A year passed with life carrying on as normal, I was sixteen years old now. Each morning got easier to wake up to still and always knowing my father was no longer there. By now I was used to sleeping in Dash's house which I never called it that anymore, she would hit me if I did. It was our home.

I kept practicing my lightning abilities and sent my reports back to Storm Shadow when I could. Apparently Vulkan FireHeart had finished his training and went back to living in a volcano not too far from Shadows house.

Kensei slowly and carefully tried to act more romantic with Fluttershy but even Kensei lost his nerve sometimes. Hemlocks dog Drakantus had grown to full size now, being as big as to level his head with shoulder almost. FireSpeed kept volunteering for any and every race possible, no surprise to any of us!

A few months after I moved house Rainbow Dash's father came to visit. I had already seen him about twice before. He was proud in his attitude and focused in his actions. He was quite alright with me staying with Dash even though we worried he wouldn't. By the way he acted around us I could tell he felt like he was slowly letting go of his daughter but not in a bad way. The way a father wants his daughter to always be his little filly but is sad to see her grow up. This didn't stop him being proud of her.

For the last couple of weeks Wingbury Academy wanted to get me and my class to do some work experience. We all had our own plans and ideas for what we wanted to do. Hemlock was given the option to work in Celestia's personal garden! Xenon thought he deserved it after his hard work in his plantation studies. Apparently Xenon Draft and Celestia were old friends!

Kensei and Fluttershy got to work in their favourite forest and help many other ponies tend to the animals after their long hibernation. I could tell Kensei was extactic about this. FireSpeed had to go to a junior flight school to help teach the younger pegasai to fly. He loved the idea of being able to show the younger generation how to race and fly.

I personally wanted to work in the weather factory but Dash got the last placement. So Wingbury signed me up for work at Sweet Apple Acres in PonyVille. Not too bad I guess except from the fact that I know nothing about apples except they taste good! I had gathered a basic reconnaissance of the acres and its surrounding just so I knew where I would be working except from inside the barn that is.

Today was everyponies first day at their work placements, we would all work for two weeks. As usual I had to wake up early and get ready to go to PonyVille, me and Rainbow spent our couple of hours before work explaining our plans together and we were both very excited to start. Once we had breakfast and were ready to go we said goodbye to eachother with a simple kiss as we usually did, except we never really said goodbye to eachother much. We were almost always together, for school, hanging out with friends and when we just chilled out at home. It was kinda weird saying goodbye for once.

On my way to PonyVille I noticed that everypony in my year or above at Wingbury had a work placement somewhere, everypony was busy getting caught in a rush hour for their first week of work experience. All of the nearby businessess and shops must have been packed with students. I guess this was good for business though, having some free employees working for you as long as they didn't mess up that is. Talking about messing up, upon flying into PonyVille I instantly noticed Derpy Hooves with some delivery ponies. They were outside SugarCube Corner where I remember meeting that weird pink mare. They were unpacking some boxes out of their carriage and taking them inside the bakery. Having some extra time before work due to waking up earlier than needed I decided to pop over and see how Derpy was doing.

"Hey Derpy! Need any help?" I asked appearing beside her noticing she had quite the delivery to unpack.

"Uh..No.. I've got it!....Oh no!" She replied dropping two of the boxes she was holding. The noise of many fragile objects breaking from inside those two boxes attracted the attention of a short and fat pony a little older looking than us who popped his head out from behind the other end of the carriage. I presumed he was Derpy's boss.

"Oh no. The boss is gonna be real mad!" Derpy said as he walked closer towards us with a miserable look on his face.

"I'm sure he'll understand if you remind him it's your first day and all." I replied trying to build her confidence. By now he stood in front of us investigating the dropped and smashed boxes.

"What happened this time Derpy!?" Her boss shouted furiously with his face growing more and more red with rage. I was waiting for steam to burst out of his ears!

"Uh..well. I kinda dropped some of the deliveries again. S-Sorry." Replied Derpy hanging her head in shame.

"Um. Excuse me sir. I'm can asure you this was a complete accident caused by me. You see I came over to talk to Der-"

"Who are you?! And why are you getting involved?!" The boss interrupted me rudely almost headbutting me in the face.

"Well If you didn't interrupt me I was going to say how my friend here accidently dropped those boxes because of me. I distracted her by asking her if she was having fun being bossed around by a complete jerk with anger management issues. Guess not." I replied with a cocky tone and an intimidating grin on my face. It always felt good when I outsmarted or stood up to a bully.

"Excuse me! How dare you talk to me like that! I will have you fir-wait..you don't work with us." He replied scratching his head in interest of who I was.

"No I don't and I suggest you cut my buddy here some slack. Otherwise the YPWP bosses are gonna have to hear about how your treating a new volunteer." I added striking some worry into his so proud attiitude. The YPWP also known as the Young Pegasai Work Placements organisation were the ponies who organised and helped plan our weeks at out work experience placements. They didn't look kindly to bosses mistreating their student employees.

This turned the look on the boss's face from furious to that of worried and almost sweating a little with fear. I love my impact on ponies sometimes!

"Alright! I'll forgive her this time. N-Now get outta my face kid." Replied the boss as he turned around and went into the bakery in a slight tantrum.

"Thanks Lightning. You didn't have to do that. I am kind of a clutz ya know..I'm just not sure why I keep making silly mistakes." Derpy said as she stared cluelessly into the pile of smashed boxes.

"You gotta stop being so negative about ya self! You just had a bit of a derp moment thats all." I replied placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"I guess your right."

"Of course I'm right! I'm never wrong therefore I am totally epic and will always be!" I replied jumping into the air thrusting a hoof upwards. Derpy giggled and a cheery smile grew on her nervous face.

"Well it'd be great to stick around and irritate your boss some more but I gotta get to my own work place! See later Derpy Hooves!" I shouted as I flew away from the bakery and headed towards Sweet Apple Acres. I was kinda nervous about working with some ponies I barely knew. I mean I had seen their faces quite a bit but I couldn't remember their names.

I soon approached the acres barn and right away I could see two ponies completely different in appearence standing beside eachother obviously waiting for me I guess. They both stood in front of the open gate to the barn. The one on the right was a stallion standing tall while chewing on a single piece of wheat.

He was twice the size of the mare beside him. Covered in a bright red coat with an orange mane and tail. He had a very muscular build and a blank emotionless expression on his face. I remember seeing this stallion around the acres while I flew nearby sometimes, I also recognised the mare beside him. She stood patiently next to the stallion, rubbing her left foreleg with her right hoof.

The sun's bright rays of light seemed to almost soak into her light blonde mane and bounce off her orange coat. Unlike most ponies she had her mane tied back along with her tail too. I landed gracefully in front of them both, the mare looked directly into my eyes with a welcoming smile while the stallion studied me with his eyes slowly and carefully.

"Well hi there sugarcube! You must be our new worker. Name's AppleJack." The mare said spitting on her right hoof and offering me a hoofshake.

"Nice to meet ya! I'm Lightning Flash!" I replied spitting on my hoof as well and than shaking hers. I never did spit shake much but I did like it!

"Nice meeting ya Lightning! This big 'ol stallion here is mah brother Big Macintosh." AppleJack added turning to the stallion beside her.

"Eeyup!" Was his only reply.

"It's good to meet both of ya. I'm ready and willing to get started!" I replied.

"Well it's good to have such an eager volunteer! I got quite the set a jobs for ya." AppleJack replied.

"Now remember AJ that this is his first day, don't wanna overwork his abilities." Big Macintosh said as he layed a hoof on AppleJack's shoulder.

"I know Big Mac. Ya think I'm dumb?" Replied AppleJack stamping her hoof into the ground.

"It's alright. I'll keep up to the task!" I said spreading my wings and holding my head high with confidence.

"Good to hear but I don't think ya wings are gonna help much here." Replied AppleJack as she studied my wings.

"Well I'll leave ya two to get started. I gotta go help Granny Smith and remember AJ take it easy." Big Macintosh said walking off and than around the barn.

"Argh! He really gets on mah nerves sometimes. Sorry about dat." Said AppleJack.

"Thats quite alright. I hate it when ponies don't trust me either or underestimate my abilities." I replied.

"Well let me show ya around and than we can have at it!" AppleJack said walking into the barn as I followed. It took us about an hour or two to get around the entire acres. The land was huge! I was shown everything in the barn, where all the animals were kept and where her family's house was.

Usually I didn't like the idea of keeping a diary or journal, always found it boring and pointless. For this week though I decided it would be a good idea to keep one. So here it is:

Day 1: After meeting AppleJack and Big Macintosh and being shown around the acres I helped AppleJack with bucking some trees. Something I had never done before unless you count ramming a cherry tree with your head. I had never seen a pony so physically strong! She could buck a dozen trees in under a minute without a breath of exhaustion. Something I could never do, she would buck ten by the time I had bucked three completely. I could easily get from one tree to the other in a second but making sure all the apples on a tree were gone was difficult. I never focused my strength in my back legs, more in my wings. AppleJack didn't mind though and she advised me to practice tomorrow instead of moving onto any other jobs.

Day 2: I spent most of today bucking more and more trees. I needed to practice and strengthen my legs. It slowly got easier and needed less effort eventually. I spent lunch with AppleJack and her grandmother who was called Granny Smith. She was kinda nuts but a funny pony to be with. Whether she meant to or not! It was nice of AppleJack to invite me for lunch and for this whole experience.

Day 3: By now I could feel my legs getting stronger when I helped buck trees only slightly though. For the first time I helped AppleJack who I now got used to calling her AJ like everypony else with selling some food in PonyVille. Business was pretty good today and quite a few ponies were curious of who I was. I introduced myself to them all and was glad to see so many happy faces.

Day 4 and 5: For my last two days of working with AJ for this week I bucked more trees just like before and helped Big Mac carry apples back and forth from the trees to the barn. A lot of my jobs were constantly repeated each day which I didn't mind because it got that much easier each time! On friday I assisted AJ in feeding the pigs and we had one of our usual conversations which went like this....

"So what's life like in CloudsDale? I couldn't imagine living in the clouds maself." AJ asked as she finished feeding the last of the pigs.

"Very calm well apart from the usual race around town. Which I usually took part in or my friends did. Racing is a huge thing in CloudsDale that and weather control." I replied cleaning up some spilt pig food.

"Sounds mighty fine! I do love a good race and rodeo! Got many a friends and family up there in the clouds?" Replied AJ.

"Yeah. I'm friends with a lot of pegasai at my academy but my best friends are Kensei Coal who is very cheery and loves to throw parties!" I replied.

"Sounds like a fine fella. Almost reminds me of another pony here in PonyVille. Anyway please do carry on!" She replied as we finished our jobs inside the barn and started to walk outside.

"Well then there's my very plant and animal obsessed friend Hemlock. He loves reading and caring for his dog Drakantus. Then ya got Fluttershy who loves animals more than I think is possible almost. She's very kind and caring but at the same time is very nervous and strangely enough is afraid of heights. Weird for a pegasus I know." I carried on turning to AJ as we walked out of the barn.

"Fluttershy ah? I think I remember selling her some apples. Yeah that's it! She comes by the market quite often. Quite a delicate one she is. That Hemlock fella seems pretty interesting." AJ replied taking much interest into my descriptions of my buddies.

"There's my friend FireSpeed who is very competitive in his racing but is a great guy to fly with. Me and him used to always share in common the fact that we didn't have our cutie marks that was until I earned mine." I said looking at my flank to admire my epic cutie mark.

"Mighty fine mark might I say so myself!" AJ added commenting on my mark.

"Thanks. Last but not least there's my awesome marefriend Rainbow Dash. We share almost everything in common and now I actually live with her in her house. Well our house." I added while I just imagined Dash in my mind, missing her company. Each day we worked neither of us got home until very late meaning we didn't get to hang out much. I began to really miss my time with my friends but I did like working with AJ too.

"So ya know the one and only Rainbow Dash ah? Well that's how she calls herself around these parts. Quite a cocky and proud pony may I say so myself. She does love to strut her stuff around and above PonyVille. It's good to hear ya have yourself a special somepony I guess." AJ replied as we approached a selection of trees.

"So how come ya live with dat Rainbow Dash and not ya family? If ya don't mind me asking." AppleJack asked walking over to a tree.

"Well..I..I just do. My friends are my only family in CloudsDale. My relatives live quite a bit away from me you see." I replied but I didn't wanna think about my father too much around most ponies so I never mentioned it to her. With me saying that I started to buck another tree and noticed AJ look at me with a suspicous stare on her face. That was our only conversation that involved my family.

I spent my well earned weekend with my friends and listened to their stories. Both mornings I decided to sleep in and stay with Dash, I missed spending time with her so much I felt as if I needed to truly cherish ever second with her. I could tell she had missed me too along with everypony else. Apparently everypony else kept a diary on their time at work experience too!

Day 6: It felt kinda weird getting back into work after the weekend off which seemed to fly by. For the second time I had to help AJ with sales in PonyVille market which I quite enjoyed. We sold apples all morning and by lunch time it had got extremely busy. What surprised me was that Fluttershy came to visit me.

Just as I finished serving a customer I soon noticed Fluttershy navigating her way through the many stands and ponies around them, very carefully trying not to bump into them. I jumped into the air and waved my hoofs shouting..

"Hey Fluttershy! Over here!"

AppleJack was instantly struck with confusion and as she was about to jump into the air and grab me by the tail to bring me down she also noticed Fluttershy walking over a bit faster now. She approached our stand carrying a saddlesack the same one she always had.

"Hi Lightning. I wondered if you were going to be selling with AppleJack." Said Fluttershy as she attempted to hide her face with her mane obviously being very nervous of AJ.

"So ya remember my name do ya? Good to once again make your acquaintance miss Fluttershy." Replied AppleJack tipping her hat to Fluttershy.

"Oh yes I'm very good at remembering faces and names. As well as animals, places and much more." Said Fluttershy no longer hiding her face as she almost exploded into a blast of interest and no longer being shy.

"Hey Fluttershy where's Kensei?" I asked looking side to side with both eyes while landing back inside of the stand.

"He had to treat some injured porcupines. I really wanted to help but the others ordered me to get some food for everypony." Replied Fluttershy in a slightly annoyed but worried tone. She was obviously worried about the animals but I sensed something else. Maybe she hated being away from Kensei and that she felt as attached to him as he did for her.

"That sucks but I'm sure the porcupines are fine!" I replied trying to cheer her up.

"And Kensei." Fluttershy muttered under her breath. That was all it took to know she felt attached to Kensei. Whether he knew or not I wasn't going to say anymore about them or the animals. I didn't want to screw anything up for the both of them.

"So what can we be getting ya! We got apple brownies, apple crumble, apple pie, apple raisin drop cookies, apple buttercake and just about anything apple!" AppleJack said pointing to the many different dishes which surrounded us in the stand.

"Uh....I-I think I was given a list of foods to get from the others. Let me just find it." Replied Fluttershy as she opened the side of her saddlesack and began scrounging the inside for her list until finally finding it and placing it in front of AJ.

"These please." She added.

"Alrighty than! Give me just a mo while I gather all ya grub!" Said AJ walking around and behind the stand to collect more food.

"It's nice to be able to chat to ya Fluttershy. All of this work experience has really cut into our time to hang out not just us but for the others too. You and Kensei are lucky to be together. Working together I mean!" I said almost letting slip the thought of Fluttershy and Kensei going out. I don't think she noticed though. Thank Celestia!

"I do miss us all hanging out but it's not like this is forever. Just while we work." Replied Fluttershy giving me a smile trying to brighten my mood.

"Yeah I guess that's true...Wait what if when we're all older and get jobs we will stop talking to eachother! I couldn't imagine any of us never speaking to eachother!" I suddenly realised worrying about our future. I would never want to lose my friends. I was right when I told AJ that my friends are my only family here.

"W-W-Well I-I don't think we'll ever leave eachother. I mean you and Dash live together, Kensei and FireSpeed always take everyone other anything else. Hemlock and I would be.....lost without you four. Me and him never had any real friends before we all met." Replied Fluttershy becoming nervous of my sudden tone of shock and shouting.

I stood looking at my hooves for a second before Fluttershy suddenly leaned over the front of the stand and picked up my head with a single hoof, looked into my eyes and said...

"I would never give up my friends Lightning Flash and I know you wouldn't either!"

I was caught off guard by her sudden boost in confidence and determination. She retreated back into her normal shy self and jumped backwards hiding her face once again.

"Yeah! You're right Fluttershy! I guess all this working has brought out a negative thinking about me. Thanks. I see why Kensei reall-uh oh..nevermind!" I replied almost making another stupid mistake. Fluttershy threw her mane aside of her face and stared at me curiously almost creeping me out. I was kinda starting to hope AJ would be quick so Fluttershy could leave before I revealed Kensei's secret. I really suck at keeping secrets!

"Ah! I think I gone got it all for ya sugarcube!" Shouted AJ appearing from behind the stand with two bags of food.

"Oh thank you AppleJack. Here's my bits. Thank you." Replied Fluttershy placing the required amount of bits in front of her.

"My pleasure sugarcube! Come back now ya hear!" Replied AJ in a enthuastic voice.

"Goodbye Lightning." Were Fluttershy's last words before she trotted off carrying her two bags of delicacies on her back.

Day 7: Today was pretty normal as me and AppleJack carried out our normal duties of bucking more trees. Although I had now become pretty good at bucking trees I decided I wanted to try something new. I wanted to put AJ's theory to the test: Could my wings be of any use here at Sweet Apple Acres? For the rest of Tuesday I carried on with my usual jobs while constantly ransacking my mind for ideas with a trick that could easily empty a tree of its apples.

Day 8: I arrived early as usual to meet AJ by the barn like we did each morning. I landed only a metre in front of her as she finished munching on an apple. Go figure!

"Good morning Lightning! How ya been?" Asked AJ after swallowing the last of her apple and chucking the core aside.

"Good thanks! I think I've finally come up with a trick for emptying the trees of the apples!" I replied with a proud shout.

"Well..lets hear it!" Replied AJ eager to hear my plan.

"To start off I will climb up to a decent altitude before diving down towards my targeted tree. Just before hitting the tree I will level my self with the top of the tree, in a split second of time obviously and circulate it with enough speed to create a small tornado around the tree. The power and current of the tornado should hopefully pull all of the apples out of the tree and if powerful enough also do the same to any nearby trees! I will finish by halting to a complete stop after that and than all of the apples will drop to the ground." I announced to her pointing a hoof into the air and rehearsing the said moves with it.

"Sounds pretty complicated but I gotta say that's some good thinking right there! Hope ya can show me it in action!" Replied AppleJack who was now very excited to see my trick.

"Lets get bucking! And um..flying I guess." AJ said as she stood on her back legs with her front two rolling in the air. She zoomed off ahead of me towards a patch of trees ready to be bucked. I instantly followed her to the trees and just before reaching them I rocketed up into the clouds ready to begin my stunt. If I had tried to do this trick before meeting Storm Shadow I probably would have activated the "Flashbang" which in this case would result in me being splattered in a tree. I had been practicing my control over it since our meet and now felt as if I was in tune with it. It was hard for me to accidently do such a thing now as long as I kept focused.

I started my dive downwards towards a paticular tree which was accompanied by four others in an almost perfect patch of trees. This one was directly in the center and with AJ standing beside one of the five trees on the outer edge I soon came into close contact with the tree. Upon reaching the tree's top I instantly in a flash leveled myself with it and began circulating it quickly increasing my speed and very soon creating a small tornado of dust and dirt surrounding the tree.

I kept the tornado going for about four seconds before flying off course and bringing myself to a stop and hover above AJ. Once the dust cleared out of the air me and AppleJack noticed the pile of apples from under not just the designated tree but under all the others too! I landed next to AJ who's jaw almost hit the ground once she noticed that the trick worked.

"Awww Yeah!!!" I said hovering just beside AJ who shook her head to try and focus.

"Well was that awesome or was that AWESOME!" I added still proud of my found trick. Although it may not be bedazziling or huge it still got the job done and looked pretty cool too!

"Well darn nug it! Looks like ya proved me wrong Lightning. Mighty good flying." Replied AppleJack punching the ground with a hoof.

"Heheh. I'm glad ya liked it! Although that was cool and all it would kinda get tiring after a while." I replied. We carried on bucking for a couple of hours, I pulled off the trick a few more times and it was effective everytime! Like a lot of my tricks I had to name them. I called this one the "Apple Dasher." Seemed kinda appropiate.

Day 9: Today I helped AppleJack deliver some food into PonyVille which took quite a while. Nothing out of the ordinary just some common customers awaiting their food. As soon as we arrived back at the barn Big Macintosh was standy ready and eager to see us, we approached him calmly as he suddenly galloped towards us in a hurry.

"Hey Big Mac! What's the rush?" I asked.

"AJ! A couple dozen cows just got loose and are heading around Everfree forest and than probably to PonyVille! I couldn't handle them myself so I was just about to get ya." Replied Big Mac notifiying us of the crisis on our hooves.

"Well aint that just dandy! Now I gotta go herd 'em all back 'ere!" Replied AppleJack dropping her saddle sack ready to sprint off.

"I'm sure I could help? I've never dealt with herding and stuff like that before but I can still lend a helping hoof." I replied hoping I could help out.

"That'd be mighty helpful of ya Lightning! Guess ya haven't let me down yet. Hope ya wings aint tired 'cus you're gonna need 'em!" AppleJack replied and without another thought ran off towards the herds direction. I looked at Big Mac who responded with a simple nod and then..

"Eeyup!"

I leaped into the air and quickly caught up to AJ and flew beside her as she sprinted without a breath of exhaustion. No matter how fast she ran her hat would still stay perfectly on her head. I began to wonder if she had glued it on or something!

"Alright SugarCube when we approach the herd I'm gonna sweep 'round behind them while ya'll stay in front of them leading the way. Got any questions?" Said AJ as she didn't even turn her head to speak to me.

"Yeah. Why do always call everypony SugarCube?" I asked. I had always wondered why she did. She turned her head to me as she continued running at her current speed but before she could answer we immediatly caught sight of the herd of runaway cows.

"Stick to the plan!" Shouted AppleJack as she tightned up behind them. I didn't have a second to spare and dashed forwards in front of the herd taking lead of their charge. AJ was making sure there were no stray cows while I had to lead their direction. I kept focused on what was in front of me and soon enough we brought the herd to a stop. It was a lot easier than I thought!

I stopped alongside the herd of a couple dozen cows and ran to AJ feeling so happy at what I did. All of the cows stayed put and didn't dare try charging off again.

"Damn fine herding Lightning! Ya got apple family blood in ya!" Shouted AJ as she trotted towards me.

"Heheh. Cheers AppleJack." I replied happy with how she commented on my work. She took off her hat wiped her forehead with it. I began hovering beside her as we escorted the herd back to the barn and turned to her to say...

"Soooo AppleJack about my question....."