The Life Of Lightning Flash

                                                                                     Chapter Nine

With that triumphant day still in everyponies thoughts, life followed as normal.

A few months passed, I was now fifteen years old.  Myself and Dash were still being praised by everypony at Wingbury Academy everynow and again. It was good to see that everypony was just as happy as we were. Well almost as much!

But none of this disturbed me from finding the reason behind my cutie mark. It was oh so fascinating but still so confusing, I had some sort of relation to lightning and not just with my name! It had kept me wondering ever since that day.

One day after school I decided to check on Hemlock and see if he had made any progress on his studying into this mystery. Ever since my race he had always made sure he put some time and effort into finding the reason behind my ability and cutie mark. I had never actually been to Hemlock's house before but I knew where it was.

With the sun beginning to set I finally reached Hemlock's home. For a pegasus he had quite the odd taste in houses. He lived in a tree. A short, fat, chode like tree that was without a missing leaf upon it.

I knocked on his front and only door and  my welcoming call was made up of his dog's loud barking.  After a bit more barking Hemlock eventually opened the door leaning his head out to see me standing there.

"Oh hey Lightning! I was just putting some more research into your new found cutie mark and what may have caused it!" He said with a welcoming smile as he ushered me indoors.

"Oh cool! That's actually what I came over to talk about!" I replied as I entered his treehouse.

The tree was completely hollow just like PonyVille's libary but was filled with half the amount of books and also a wide variety of plants and herbs.

"Quite the place you have yourself here." I commented while hovering around his many bookshelves.

"Thanks! Just don't go upstairs because that's where Drakantus rests." He replied while he calmly gathered together a pile of books. Drakantus was Hemlock's four year old Doberman who he had since he was a puppy. He was just about under a meter high, very muscular build and had a dark black coat and tan. He was extremely friendly towards those he knew but was still quite boisterous.

"i've been gathering all the books I could find about lightning and its properties, cutie marks and their history, speed and weather to see what connection they all share with you! But alas my attempts have been in vain. Not completely though!! Of what I can tell...you may or do have some sort of control over lightning and it's speed! Amazing right? But I still don't quite understand a lot of it." Hemlock announced with glee and great interest.

"Sounds epic! I guess that could explain that move I pulled off in the race." I replied as I turned my head to look at my wings.

"Exactly! But I'm afraid reading isn't going to be enough. We're gonna need to test your capabilities again in some practical tests." Hemlock replied before putting away another book.

"Then what are we waiting for?! Lets go already!" I replied zooming towards the door but before I could open it Hemlock butted in with..

"Um well. The only problem being I wouldn't be able to test your results fairly and perfectly, meaning we wouldn't get a straight answer. I was never trained for flight tests. Sorry." He then drooped his head and ears thinking he had dissapointed me somehow.

"Hey don't worry about it! You're an amazing help and I can't thank you enough for what you're doing! We just need to find somepony who can help too!" I replied with a grin trying to cheer him up. Hemlock was more help to me than he thought.

To be honest I didn't know who else could help. I just hoped Hemlock did.

We both sat opposite each other, silent and confused at what to do next .

"Aha! I've got it! I know somepony who can help! Hemlock suddenly shouted jumping to attention.

"Great! When can we meet?" I replied also standing in excitement.

"Um...well. There's another problem. I don't know exactly where he is. He travels a lot you see." Hemlock added with a doubful look on his face as he sat back down.

"Oh. Well that's good!..What's his name then?" I replied sarcasticly.

"Storm Shadow. His a unicorn who's reasonably famous for his fantastic magical arts in storm and weather magic! I traveled along side him a while back, his older than both of us but he should be able to help!" Replied Hemlock in excitement as he jumped up onto his hooves once more.

"Do you have any idea where he could be?" I asked hoping for a good answer.

"Well of what I can remember when we travelled together....he mostly travelled between PonyVille, Canterlot and Stalliongrad. Don't know why just did!" He replied as he scratched his head.

I quietly sighed at his response. This unicorn seemed like he didn't want to be found. I couldn't just give up though, this was so important to me!

"Looks like we're gonna have to hunt down this mysterous unicorn ourselves...and we're gonna need some time to do it in!" I said as I also stood. I felt as if I was about to give a speech!

"Good thing we got the next two weeks off of school then eh? Responded Hemlock with a grin.

"That will be more than enough time to find Storm Shadow! Now all we need is a team to go find him. I would go alone but it's onlly because of my friends that I've got this far and have earned my cutie mark!" I added proudly with a big smile on my face.

"You know we've got that! But if we take too many of us, we'll be sure to slow down and possibly lose focus. So I think only a few of us should go!" Added Hemlock.

"Yeah your right. Okay then! I will ask Dash and FireSpeed while you ask Fluttershy and Kensei. We'll then see who really wants to go! Then on next Tuesday we will all meet here and set off together!" I said jumping into the air.

"Agreed. We will meet next Tuesday!" Added Hemlock bringing our conversation to an end.

And so it was settled. I left Hemlock in peace as I returned home for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow I would ask Dashie and FireSpeed, Hemlock would ask Fluttershy and Kensei. I knew Dash would be up for the challenge and now with FireSpeed out of his bed again I had a feeling he would be too!

And so tomorrow came, another sunny, warm day in CloudsDale.

I went to school as normal and waited until lunch to ask Dash and FireSpeed about Storm Shadow. As today was the first day FireSpeed came back into the academy after his incident everypony was curious about his wing and recovery. He got swarmed by ponies asking about him and making sure he was alright. Luckily the crowds had dispersed by lunch time making it easier for me to talk to him.

I bought my lunch alongside Dash who of which I always spent every minute of the school day with along with our free time outside of school. Ever since our special day we decided to spend as much time we each other as possible. After buying our lunch we sat down opposite FireSpeed and made casual chit chat.

"You seem a lot better now FireSpeed. Looks like you got lucky with such a speedy recovery!" I said giving him a friendly smile.

"Yeah.Its good to be back. Especially to see how great my friends are doing!" He replied before taking a bite out of his lunch

"Do you two know where the other three are? I saw them earlier but they disappeared before lunch." FireSpeed added looking between me and Rainbow Dash.

"You mean Fluttershy, Kensei and Hemlock? They always eat lunch together in the nearby forest." I replied. They had began doing this since just before FireSpeeds accident. They sometimes joined us for lunch.

"There's no need to worry about them! Let 'em tend to their little woddland friends!" Dashie added after taking sip of her drink.

"Hey I've got an important question for both of ya. I was talking to Hemlock yesterday and he said he knows somepony who can help figure out my connection to lightning and its effects on me. Problem being is we're gonna have to hunt him down ourselves. Wanna help?" I asked the both of them knowing I would definately get a yes in response.

"Anything for you Flash!" Shouted Dashie while raising her glass to the ceiling.

"Sounds like fun I guess. But when will this be happening?" Asked FireSpeed.

"I knew you'd both be up for the task! We'll meet next Tuesday at Hemlock's place." I said with joy.

It was done, I had got Dash and FireSpeed to come along which wasn't hard really. Later that day I was visited by Hemlock who told me that Fluttershy and Kensei Coal would not be coming with us due to having to look after some animals in their "time of need" somewhere in the forest.

I didn't mind them not coming because I knew they were happy doing something together, something they loved.

A few more days passed and we had begun our time off of school. By Tuesday everypony had to be packed and ready to go. We had quite a journey ahead of us and luckily  FireSpeed managed to find a map for us to use. Hemlock decided to bring his dog Drakantus along. This worried me, it would mean he would be restricted to the ground. He was fine with it and so we planned our roles for the journey.

Hemlock and Drakantus would stay on the ground and look for any tracks or evidence of Storm Shadow being around.

Myself, Dash and FireSpeed would watch over the both of them from above while one of us scouted ahead. We would swap roles everynow and again, giving each other a chance to relax a bit.

We set off straight after lunch on Tuesday, meeting at Hemlocks to check our gear and suppllies and to go over the plan.

Everypony was ready and set to go! Our journey had begun!

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty straight forward and boring as we left PonyVille and headed towards Canterlot. We would have taken the train but none of us had enough bits for the ride. None of us minded though, we all prefered to travel by hoof and wing anyway.  Not much happened for both days, just more walking and flying while practicing our routine as we traveled. For both nights Hemlock and Drakantus shared a tent while FireSpeed slept in his own one, me and Dashie didn't bring tents all we needed was some clouds.

We shared a cloud each night and tried to keep each other warm. I never really had trouble sleeping before but when I slept beside Dash I felt more comfortable than ever! I felt as if this was a big step in our relationdhip, sleeping beside each other for comfort and warmth. I could sense she felt comfortable sleeping by me just by watching her sleep.

It was Thursday morning and we were all woken up by Drakantus's loud barking at around about 11am. I slowly opened my eyes to see Dashie curled up beside me. She was also beginning to wake up and slowly uncurl. I stood as I stretched my legs and wings before swooping down towards Hemlock's and FireSpeed's tents.

"What's your dog barking at this time?" Moaned FireSpeed as he slowly left his tent yawning.

By now the barking had stopped and Dash was hovering above their tents.

"It was probably just a fox. His calmed down now anyway." Replied Hemlock also appearing from his tent while stroking Drakantus.

"Well with that great wake up call I think we should get a move on. Round up your stuff and lets go!" I said while slinging my satchel over my back.

While everypony gathered their things FireSpeed whipped out his map and studied his bearings.

"Where are we Speedy?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"Well we've gone past and around Canterlot like Hemlock advised. We're about quarter way to StallionGrad." Replied FireSpeed as he put away his map.

"Lets hope we find Storm Shadow before reaching StallionGrad. Lets go!" I added in a more serious tone as we headed off.

We had dismantled our tents and were ready to go. With Hemlock and Drakantus patrolling the ground, me and FireSpeed hovered overhead of them while scanning the nearby enviroment for any danger. Dash scouted up ahead and would notify us if there was a problem.

"So Lightning, why is finding out about your cutie mark so important to you?" FireSpeed asked as we casually flew through the low clouds.

"It's not just the mark you see. It's about that move I pulled off during the race. I mean I went faster than a WonderBolt could imagine and most importantly lightning actually gathered and formed around me! If thats not extraordinary than I don't know what is!" I replied.

We both went silent after that. There wasn't much else to discuss between us as we carried on searching. I started to feel bad about dragging my buddies along with me on this journey and just hoped we would find Storm Shadow soon.

My negative thinking was soon wiped away an hour later by the sight of Rainbow Dash soaring through the clouds in front us and towards me and Speedy . In a few seconds she appeared hovering right in front of us with her wings beating rapidly in excitement.

"You're gonna wanna see this! Follow me!" Dashie said before zooming off ahead, FireSpeed quickly followed her.

Before I followed them, I flew down towards Hemlock and his dog.

"Be sure to catch up, but stay hidden ok? Just in case theres trouble. Be careful" I advised them before dashing off ahead of them.

If anything was to happen to any of us I wanted to make sure at least one of us would be safe enough to escape and send help. It may sound negative but I always planned ahead on these types of things. I wouldn't be able to deal with the guilt if one of us did get hurt or even worst. Killed.

I quickly caught up to Dash and FireSpeed who were both sitting upon a single cloud. I hovered beside them as they were both busy watching a group of three ponies threaten a lone, cloaked and unrecognisable pony.

"What in Celestia's name is going on down there?" Asked FireSpeed in confusion.

"I don't know...but we're about to find out." I replied before swooping down to this strangers aid. We couldn't just leave him there to be beaten and assaulted by these thugs. At the same time I could also be endangering the safety of my friends.

I had to take charge and hopefully help this mysterious pony.

To the small groups surprise we appeared in a second standing between them and the stranger, standing in line and feeling confident beside each other. I stood tall and proud between Dash who was on my left and FireSpeed on my right.

"Who the hell are you?!" Said the thug who stood directly opposite me while slowly getting closer. He was also standing in line between his two pals. They all seemed to be a couple years older than us in appearance.

"Somepony who's telling you to back off!" I replied angrily.  All three of them were earth ponies and stallions. The one in the middle was reasonably big and had a dark brown coat with a grey mane, the one on his left was shorter and had a light green coat with a ginger mane. His other pal was probably the smallest out of the bunch with a light grey coat and a dark purple mane.

"Well kid why don't you and your little friends go fly back up to your puffy little cloud and leave us to our business. Which you and your pals have nothing to do with!" The same pony replied looking stressed in his eyes.

"Now everypony just calm down! I'm sure we can work this out. What exactly do you want with this pony here, he seems innocent enough." FireSpeed said trying to defuse the conflict.

"Innocent!? That unicorn your protecting just burnt down half our village! We want justice but before we could catch him he got away and we've been tracking him since!" Said the pony with a light green coat and seemed just as angry as the other

two.

"I'm sure he did it by accident! If you would kindly let us speak to him?" FireSpeed added.

"No! We're taking him into custody!" The brown coated pony replied.

We didn't even know this unicorn but I felt as if I couldn't just leave him. At this point I was up for believing that anypony could help us find Storm Shadow. Even if it meant a suspected criminal.

The pony with a brown coat stepped forward and pushed his way between me and Speedy. FireSpeed turned towards me as if to ask "What now?" I gave him a quick wink hoping he knew what I was up to. With taking my reply into thought FireSpeed quickly jumped in front of the brown pony and span 160 degrees before kicking him in the face with his back legs, almost knocking him to the floor!

"Oi! Get him!" Shouted the pony with the grey coat.

The pony with the brown coat along with the green one chased after Speedy as he flew back into the forest we had left and where I presumed Hemlock was hiding. The grey pony ran past me and straight towards Dash. As he passed me I leaped into his side knocking him off the path. After standing back up I then followed after Dash and the unicorn who ran off in the opposite direction of the forest, leaving the other pony behind.

I was overcome with a wave of adrenaline and bravery as we evaded our pursuers. I knew FireSpeed would eventually lose them while also getting them lost. After sprinting a mile or two we were reunited with Hemlock and Drakantus.

"That was quite the ruckus you caused back there!" Hemlock said catching his breath.

"All for our new accomplice here." Added Dashie.

Our mystery pal finally revealed his face but he didn't seem familiar to any of us. The first thing that caught my eye was his broken horn. I didn't even know they could break! He then removed his rag of a cloak from his body. He had a brownish red coat with a spiked black mane and tail.

But apart from his broken horn there was something else not quite right about him. His body was cracked on the surface as if he was made out of rock but as I looked closer I noticed a slight glow emitting from between each crack. This unicorn was extremely strange. His eyes were pure orange and looked as if they were about to bleed.

"Woah! What's up with your body!?" Dash asked in amazement as she stepped closer towards him.

"Excuse my friend. I think what she means to say is you have quite the interesting coat! How is that?" Hemlock added politely trying not to offend the unicorn.

"That's quite alright. Before I explain anything I should introduce myself. My name is Vulkan FireHeart and I as you can see am a unicorn. I was visiting a nearby village when during a night's stay there I was suddenly assaulted by a fellow pony. With all the stress of the situation going to my head I accidently unleashed some of my magic and well...kinda burnt down some of the village." Our mysterious new accomplice replied.

"So thats why you were being chased! Sounds pretty bad. That still doesn't explain how your coat is so wierd?" I replied in interest.

"Well you see...I live in an active volcano. To put it shortly my body has evolved with the element of fire. My body is actually around about 50% Molten Lava, that's the explanation for my interesting coat. Most of my magic is based around fire but the problem is I've always had trouble controlling it since my horn got damaged. Thats why I wear these bracers to help control it." He replied looking at his forelegs where he wore the bracers.

"Quite the life you got there. We're just glad we could help." I replied with a cheery smile.

"So where are you all heading?" Vulkan asked.

"We were in the middle of searching for somepony. Maybe you know him? His called Storm Shadow." Hemlock replied. I was kinda surprised that Hemlock just came out and told him. It had nothing to do with Vulkan but I didn't stop him. At this point anypony could help us. Except those thugs of course!

"Storm Shadow huh? That's awfully odd, after destroying that village I decided to find that unicorn. I hoped he could help control my magic. Maybe I can come with you?" Vulkan replied hoping we'd take him with us.

"What's the harm aye? We can find him together." I replied as I shook Vulkans hoof in agreement.

We carried on travelling in the same direction. Hemlock, Drakantus and Vulkan stuck to the dirt road while me and Rainbow Dash flew overhead. We travelled for about an hour before being caught up by FireSpeed.  He flew beside me and Dash in exhaustment.

"Finally lost them! See ya got a new friend! Sorry to say but unfortunately I can't go on much longer. This whole journey's been fun and all but it's just not for me. I'm gonna head back to CloudsDale and tell everypony your all ok. Good luck." Said FireSpeed before zooming off behind us.

"Well that sucks! I'd much rather have Speedy with us than this walking firework." Said Dash as she sighed loudly as we carried on flying. Sadly I kinda agreed with her, it was a shame that FireSpeed had to leave us but I didn't hold it against him. I was also worried that staying with Vulkan would get us all caught up in his crimes.

We kept travelling till the sun begun to set, we were all quite tired by now. We hadn't found anything or anypony since our encounter with the thugs. The remaining light from todays sun was slowly depleting and I knew we had to rest for the night. Before telling the others we should rest I soon noticed a small cluster of lights emitting from the overcoming darkness of the night ahead of us.  As we flew closer and closer towards the lights I was able to identify the source of lights as a small cottage. It seemed to be very alone from any other structures but was surrounded by a small forest.

"Hey look everpony! There's a cottage up ahead!" Shouted Hemlock from below. His tiredness had lowered his awareness of the area around him otherwise he would of realised the cottage earlier. Me and Dashie flew down beside Hemlock, Drakantus and Vulkan and walked with them as we approached the cottage. Once we had reached the front door, everypony standing behind me with tired eyes, I knocked on the door a couple of times. The door was soon opened by a unicorn who stood tall but old and wore a welcoming smile on his face.

"Hello there! If it is shelter you seek than you have come to the right place! You all seem tired so please come in!" The old unicorn said as he welcomed us in.

"Thanks! We all could really do with a goodnights sleep. I'm Lightning Flash by the way." I replied as I entered with the others behind me. He closed the door behind us and then turned to me and said..

"Good to meet you Lightning Flash! You're all welcome here. My name is Storm Shadow."