The Life Of Lightning Flash

                                                                                       Chapter Eight

A week passed and as usual everything was swell!

I hung out with Hemlock some more and it turned out that we had a lot in common with each other. Not so much in hobbies and activities because he wasn't a big fan of racing and I wasn't at all interested in learning about plants. But we shared the same opinions and thoughts on certain things. Making our philosphical based converstaions drag on for quite a bit!

Hemlock also loved animals as much as Kensai and almost as much as Fluttershy. I introduced them to Hemlock and from then onwards their friendship grew greatly! Hemlock even had his own pet dog! I don't think Hemlock had many friends but that had now changed!

He would usually love to tell me about his favourite teachers and ponies who have inspired him. This was interesting and all but I was just glad he had some close friends now. It was the least I could do to repay him for checking on me that day.

On the other hoof, me and Dash were doing fantastic! I had told my dad about me and her and I even wrote to my mother about us. They were both very proud of me and were amazed at how great our first date went! We decided to make sure we always had our own special alone time with each other, just so we didn't have to worry about everypony else.

Today was Sunday and I had decided to wake up earlier than usual for today was the day of Dash and FireSpeed's big race!

I went downstairs and made myself something basic to eat. My father was busy with a load of paperwork, probably related to his teaching duties.

After finishing my small breakfast I decided to have a shower and get ready to go out. I found having a shower was a love of mine and always has been, not that I didn't mind getting down and dirty though!

Once dry and ready to go I wanted to quickly check on my father as he was swamped with paperwork still but I was interrupted by a cluster of loud knocks at the front door.

With my dad busy I opened the door only to find a very worried and panicking Rainbow Dash standing in front of me.

"Lightning I need your help! It's all ruined and we're not gon-" "Woah! Dashie calm down! I'm sure everything's gonna be alright!" I interrupted her before she could continue.

She sat down in front of me and tried to keep calm. I put my hooves behind her back and hugged her tightly knowing I would be able to make her feel more comfortable.

"Whatever happened you know I can help. Now explain everything." I said while I was still hugging her and rubbing her back with my hooves. We then let go of each other as she took a deep breath and said..

"I got a note from FireSpeed a few minutes ago saying he had injured his left wing attempting to master his new trick while flying through Everfree Forest. I need a new partner for todays race otherwise I'll be disqualified!" She said in a more calmer but still panicked tone.

"Don't say another word! I'd be more than happy to help my beautiful marefriend win! I've even been studying the rules and set course." I replied with a smile of pride.

Dash's eyes grew bigger with excitement. She jumped off of her hooves and into the air where she stayed hovering and shouted..

"You're the best! Now we're sure to beat the rest!"

Seeing her so happy put a jolt of relief back inside of me. It was a sudden decision to make but I regretted none of it! I shut the door behind me and followed Dash to the starting area where we would meet our competitiion.

We arrived at the cloud stadium resting just above the infamous Ghastly Gorge. We were both bedazzled by the amount of Pegasai waiting in their seats for the race to begin. Now I started to feel nervous. Upon entering, Xenon Draft appeared by our side and led us to the starting point.

We stood alongside our competition, who looked quite fierce and emotionless in their stances. Both of them being stallions, big and strong kinda made me more nervous about racing them. I had always felt nervous around competition that was almost double my size.

The hosts of the race, two stallions who of which I had never seen before announced our arrival.

"Good Morning Everypony! We are so glad you could make it today! As you all probably know, our four wonderful contestants here are going to give us quite the show!" One of them announced loudly and full of pride.

Everytime they spoke I began to feel more and more nervous. But I kept reminding myself of my awesome skill in flight and the fact of having all my friends watching me made me feel a lot better!

Dashie quickly leaned towards my ear and whispered..

"Bet we can beat 'em in 10 seconds flat."

She was obviously trying to help calm my nerves and it helped. I resisted the slight urge to giggle.

"Onto the rules! There will be no physical or verbal contact of any sort towards your competition. The first contestant from both schools will start at the same time. They will then have to race eachother through Ghastly Gorge, avoiding any obstacles in their way. Once reaching the opposite end of the gorge you will meet your teamate. You and your teammate will exchange a quick tap of the hoof before handing the race over to them." He announced before taking a deep breath.

"The second pair of racers will then have to compete in a simple and straight forward race to PonyVille and then to back here! Understood? Good!" He added.

Rainbow Dash was to take the Ghastly Gorge course, putting me in place for the final race. Before they started one of the announcers asked me and my opponent to follow him to the halfway point. Before leaving I gave Dash a quick high hoof and said..

"I'd wish you luck but you don't need it!"

Dash replied with a simple smile of joy.

Once we arrived at the halfway point we waited for a little while until the starting whistle was blown. I knew Dash wouldn't keep me waiting! It wasn't too long before I could see her coming towards me. The only problem being that the other opponent wasn't too far behind.

He must be good to be able to stay reasonably close to Dash, but there was no doubt about it, Dash would reach me first and then I would win us the race! Me and Dashie exchanged a quick tap of the hooves before I zoomed off ahead of my opponent!

I felt great knowing we had the advantage, but I couldn't let my over confidence get the better of me. We still had a small journey to PonyVille and back. I kept my concentration on what was in front of me but that didn't help when the worryiing and terrifying happened.

Out of nowwhere the clouds above us turned almost as dark as night, thunder and lightning erupted from them without any warning. The only thing I could think of was that night at the stadium where I had my incident.

Since that night I was forever worried when Lightning struck around me. I tried to keep focused but was distracted by my opponent overtaking me. I had to win! For Wingbury, my friends, family and of course for Dash.

I focused all of my strength and energy into soaring forward. The lighning grew stronger and more frequent. But out of nowwhere it happened, just as it did years ago! The lightning grew stronger as so did my speed! But this time I could control it!

I could feel the wind fighting against my face and entire body as I flew faster than ever before! I felt a sudden surge of speed and strength along with a boost in energy. Was the lighning affecting my speed?

Then with all this power building up inside of me I could feel and see small particles of lightning actually gather and collect around my body, especially my wings. I felt so powerful! Then with a single strike forward I cut through the air and in a flash was not far behind my opponent but instead miles ahead of him!

It was as if I had almost telported ahead of him! I had barely noticed that I had flew threw and around PonyVille! I couldn't believe the speed I was going! It was only seconds before I reached the finish line. I was welcomed with cheers so loud Princess Celestia could probably hear them in Canterlot!

I hovered above the announcers with pride and by now the lightning around me had stopped. I accepted all of my praises without much modesty! In a second Dash appeared in front of me, embracing me in a kiss. She then smiled and raised a hoof along with mine in pride.

"Did you see that!? I was awesome! Could this get any better Dashie!?" I shouted with excitment!

"Well you might want to look at your flank." She replied with a grin.

I looked at my flank in confusion but instantly realised it. I had finally earned my Cutie mark! It was a Lightning Bolt with sparks! It was official, this day couldn't get any more awesome!

I had always worried about not getting my cutie mark, that I may never earn it. But today I found my speciality, purpose and power! I had some sort of relation with Lightning. But before I could ponder my mind on the thought any longer Dash pulled me down to the winners ceremony below.

"What a brilliant, fantastic and legendary race! What you two did was mind blowing and I think I speak on behalf of everypony here when I say we'll never forget it!" Said one of the announcers as he handed me and Dash our trophy. We held it up above our heads with strength in our teamwork and love in our hearts.

As the announcers, most of the ponies and our competition left, me and Dash were instantly swarmed by our buddies. They flew over in such a rush just to congratulate us, first came Kensei shortly followed by Hemlock and Fluttershy.

"I can't believe what you did out there! Do you even know what you did Flashie?" Asked Kensei whose eyes were gleaming with excitement.

"Uh. Not completely no. The whole thing just kinda happened!" I replied.

"I am also quite curious about your new found ability. I will make it my new goal to achieve, to find the reason behind your cutie mark!" Added Hemlock with much interest.

"Yeah that would be cool! Thanks Hemlock. But I wasn't the only pegasus of wonder out there!" I replied turning to Dash who was too busy admiring our trophy to pay attention.

"Well. I'd better be getting home to tend to my dog. I'll let ya know if I find anything!" Hemlock added before heading back to PonyVille.

Before the rest of us left we were stopped by Xenon Draft awaiting our leave by the gates. He stepped forward and said..

"I can't express how proud I am of you both! You have done our academy proud! I will be sure to put your new trophy on display for everypony to see! Also one more thing. Congratulations on earning your cutie mark Lightning Flash, I always thought it would be linked to your name. It's actually quite funny, you and Dash here have quite similiar marks!" He gave a short laugh before taking the trophy and heading back to Wingbury Academy.

"Well. What now?" Dash asked as she turned to me.

"I think we should notify FireSpeed on our awesome achievement!" I replied.

"Well he should be resting at home.  So lets go!" Agreed Dashie as me and her zoomed off towards FireSpeeds house.

I was kinda worried that FireSpeed would be annoyed with me, taking his place and all. Ah what was I thinking this is FireSpeed I'm thinking about! He always puts our friendship before racing.

We arrived not too soon and knocked on the front door only to hear FireSpeed shout...

"Come to my window!"

Me and Dash flew up to his open bedroom window to see FireSpeed resting in his bed. We slipped in and sat at the end of his bed.

"I don't suppose you've heard about our defeat have you?" Dash asked while trying not to smile.

"Wait you lost!? I'm so sorry I wis-" "Ahahahahahaha!!" Dash rudely interrupted him, falling off his bed and rolling around on the floor.

"You jerk! You had me worried!" Was his only response.

"Don't worry FireSpeed we did amazing! It's a damn shame you couldn't take part." I added while Dashie was still rolling around on the floor laughing.

"Nah, don't worry about it! I see it was a good thing you took my place anyway!" He replied pointing to my cutie mark. I simply replied with..

"Well I guess today was pretty awesome! Heheh!"