He Who Lets Light Fade

"You know, I'm all for acting a little crazy now and then, but this is the absolute worst idea I have ever heard in my entire life."

High above the skies of Ponyville was Cloudsdale, a city built on, what else but, clouds. Nearly an all pegasus society, Rainbow Dash and Leo didn't look out of place here. At the moment, the two were away from the city(and the may mares who were eager to greet the new arrival) and were standing on a wide, barren cloud. After Leo initial shock at the ability to walk on clouds in the first place, Rainbow took him to this cloud in order to practice something. To the surprise of anypony that would be watching(which there were none), this something wasn't racing or flight techniques.

"Oh, come on, Leo. How else are you gonna find out if you can control your powers?"

"By putting myself in a situation where no one has a chance of getting hurt but me. That way, if I still can't control them, the destruction will be pretty much harmless. I hope."

"Dude, your powers revolve around luck. How would you getting hurt be considered lucky?"

"...I hate everything so much right now."

After a moment of VERY awkward silence, the prismatic pegasus opened up her mouth to speak, but Leo beat her to it with a quick and firm "The answer's still no, RD."

"Dude, I'm not gonna paint a big target on myself! I'm just gonna watch! There should be a storm cloud coming over soon. Throw a piece of cloud at it and it'll zap you."

"WHAT!? RD, LIGHTNING WILL KILL ME IF I GET THIS WRONG!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Don't be a baby. It'll hurt a little, yeah, but lightning's harmless. The magic in your body sort of acts like a conductor that keeps it away from your organs."

"...you could have told me that first, you know. Humans aren't supposed to have magic in the first place."

"Oh, yeah. That's weird."

"Also, with the way lightning works, the only way to keep it from striking me would be to destroy the cloud, which my powers would do anyways, regardless of control."

"Dangit! So, now what?"

Before Leo could answer, a rumble in the air signalled the coming of the storm. A black cloud moved overhead, crackling with its shocking payload. Rainbow looked like she was pondering something, and then grabbed a chunk of the cloud they were standing on, throwing it at the angry puff. The expression on Leo's face was one of shock and horror.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

"What? I wanna see how this cloud gets the boot."

"RD, MY POWERS WOULDN'T AFFECT ANYONE IF I CAUSED SOMETHING LIKE THIS, BUT NOW-"

He didn't get to finish, as a bright glow emitted from his Cutie Mark. The cloud overhead was popping with electricity all the while.

"...you just painted a big, red target on yourself."

Rainbow looked legitimately terrified. "W-what!? How!?"

"You started the lightning storm, and now my aspect thinks that it'll be really lucky if you get destroyed with the cloud. It doesn't care if you're my friend or not, it just thinks you're a threat!"

"WHAT!? C-CAN WE STOP IT!?"

"I don't know what 'it' is yet!"

"N-NO! I CAN'T DIE YET! I HAVEN'T SAID GOODBYE! OH, SWEET MOTHER OF CELESTIA, LEO, DON'T LET ME DIE!"

Leo, after a small moment of silence, nodded and closed his eyes.

{Okay, Light. You're not going to kill my friend, you got that!? Just hit the cloud with something! ONLY. HIT. THE CLOUD!}

Rainbow Dash was paralyzed. What was the point of moving if you couldn't escape? Leo's stupid aspect would track her down and kill her, all because it thought that it decided what was lucky for him! He wasn't moving, but she could tell that some sort of war was going on in his mind. The cloud shot out bolts of lightning in several directions, as if the cloud was confused as to where they were.

{No, no no! Treat it like a dog! Don't wrestle it around! I need to...to...oh, screw it! I don't think I have too much time left!}

Leo, with all of the strength his wings gave him, lunged at Rainbow and held her as close to him as possible. A boom was heard as the cloud overhead crackled and sputtered, about to shoot them both with a painful bolt. Before that happened, a large rock was shot off of a volcano through a large amount of escaping heat and gases, and struck the storm, turning it into little black puffs. Rainbow Dash looked at Leo in disbelief and joy. "H-how'd you know that would work!?"

"My powers wouldn't consider me dying lucky. I knew that it would take what it deemed as the next luckiest way to destroy. But I can't just lunge at everything like I did today. I need to learn how to control this beast on my own."

As he unwrapped his forelegs from around Rainbow's body, she only clenched on tighter. "Please...don't leave yet. I need just a little more time..."

He looked at her with compassion and understanding before holding on to her again. She looked up at him and asked "L-Leo?"

"Hm?"

"Don't tell the others, please. The last thing I need is for them to know that I nearly got myself killed."

"Gotcha."

"And...how are you gonna test your new method? Your powers can't be forced or stuff like that."

"...I don't know, RD. I just...don't know."