Beyond the Thousand Year Change: Lightning Dust

Chapters

Tests and Crashes
Living Nightmare
Final Results
Enter Lightning Dust

Tests and Crashes

As time moved on, Lightning Dust found herself following a very predictable rhythm. She would wake up at the crack of dawn to begin a workout regimen. While she was in no way out of shape, she felt time she needed to improve her speed seeing that Shiny the jerk had managed to capture her. And no, she wasn’t going to let the excuse of ‘he used magic’ fly with her. She knew that she should have been able to fly out of there so fast that if the guards had blinked then they would never have known what had happened. So, every morning she would do wing push-ups, lifting weights with her wings, and then several high speed laps around Ponyville ending only while she heard Spike calling out that breakfast was ready.

After one of the dragon’s surprisingly good meals, Lightning would spend most of the day working with Twilight unless she had something else to do. Usually it had something to do with her friends or some magical box that a tree gave her…for some reason. Seriously, if this Tree of Harmony wanted to keep them safe after surrendering the Elements, why didn’t it just give them something that didn’t involve trying to locate keys in order to open the thing! Or at least give them a hint on how to locate the keys.

The only other thing Lightning noticed Twilight doing a lot was working on the device that was connected to the mirror. She often did this secretly, when she thought Lightning and Spike were asleep in their beds (thankfully a regular bed and not a crystal one or a basket). Lightning had woken up a few times due to the rustling noise that the purple princess’ wings still made as she went down to the lower level of the library and landing on the ground with a thud noise. With Lightning’s level of skill she was able to silently glide down and follow her down into the basement without being noticed. She only watched Twilight for a few minutes as she worked on something new to add to the mirror before going to bed. However, there were a few times when Twilight would bring out a purple crystal before attaching it to one of the new devices. With the delicate way she carried it, and the way she kissed it from time to time, made Lightning suspect that this was very important. In the end, whatever she was working on was clearly brainiac stuff that didn’t involve her so she didn’t really care. Lightning just shrugged before returning to her bed.

As for when they were working together on the armor, well it wasn’t as exciting as Lightning would have hoped…

“Beginning test number 377,” said Twilight from behind Lightning, who was sitting in the salon like chair with the bowl pressed against her head. “Ok Lightning, I want you to focus on your right side.”

Doing her best not to roll her eyes, Lightning turned her head to the right. There, taped to the wall, was a bright red target. As she focused on this, she could hear paper coming out from the back of her seat as well as Twilight’s hums as she read the readout. And for several long seconds, nothing else seemed to happen. Just like every other time she had done this since she had arrived.

“Ok,” said Twilight finally in a cheerful tone as she walked in front of Lightning who looked back at her with a bored expression. “We are making some real progress! I believe that soon I will have enough information so that we will have the interface system working. Isn’t this exciting?”

“Yeah,” yawned Lightning with a deadpanned expression. “Real exciting.” Oh, how Lightning missed being outside all the time. She missed being active, doing things rather than sitting on her flank. Lightning wished she could do something more exciting, something more in line with what a guard should be doing.

“Oh come on,” said Twilight who refused to let Lightning’s lack of enthusiasm detour her good mood. “Don’t you realize how close we are to completing step one?! Soon, with a mere thought, you will be able to direct and fire your suits weapon systems as well as its other features!”

“No princess, I don’t know,” said a very annoyed Lightning. “All I know is that I have been sitting here in this stupid chair everyday looking at targets you put up around this ‘lab’ while you keep telling me we’re making progress. Except we haven’t!” Lightning then used a hoof to move the dome bowl on top of head out of the way so she could stand. “All we have done is waste our time! Tell me, what does any of this have to do with making armor!? What kind of weapon would need something like this!?”

Twilight looked startled as Lightning began to pant from her outburst. Yet she didn’t back away, something that Lightning would have been impressed by if she wasn’t so upset at the moment. The alicorn just stood her ground as the door leading to the upstairs opened.

“Twilight!” called Spike as he began to run down the stairs. “I heard yelling! Is everything ok?” By this time, Spike was standing between them while looking as if he were willing to become Twilight’s personal shield.

“It’s fine Spike,” said Twilight calmly as she put a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. The dragon turned to look at her, leaving his expression hidden to Lightning who watched things unfold. “I should have seen this coming.”

“Twilight, she yelled at you for no reason,” exclaimed Spike before he turned his head to shot Lightning a nasty look. He then crossed his arms, his narrow eyes never leaving Lightning. “After everything you have done for her she-”

“Spike,” interrupted Twilight firmly, getting the tiny dragon’s attention. “I forgot that Lightning is different from the other one. That she wouldn’t realize the importance of what we’re doing and the exciting things that it will lead to.”

“Wait,” said Lightning with an eyebrow raised. “What do you mean by ‘different from the other one’?” That caused Twilight to look up at her and Spike to turn around so he could do the same. Lightning kept her focus on Twilight who was biting her lower lip.

“That’s, uh,” began Twilight as she began to sweat slightly. “A topic for another day. Yes! A topic for another time. For right now we have better things to discuss.”

“Oh no you don’t,” said Lightning as Twilight lit up her horn. “You’re keeping something from me and I want to know what-” Lightning was interrupted as a silver object that looked like a thermos with its cap taken off was shoved in her face. “What is this?”

“So glad you asked,” said Twilight with her voice slightly raised. “This is going to be one of the weapons for your armor. It’s called a blaster.”

Lightning looked at the ‘weapon’ and gave it an unimpressed glance. “Really? This is a weapon? It’s too small to be a cannon and there’s no arrows sticking out of it so it can be a crossbow! And how have the tests I’ve been helping you with connected to this…blaster?”

“Well,” began Twilight with a look in her eyes that Lightning had come to dread. Lecture mode! “For starters, do you know how unicorns fire magical energy blasts?” Lightning shook her head no. “It’s really very simple. All a unicorn has to do is gather up their magic into their horn and focus it while releasing it at the same time. It can be tricky, however, because if something goes wrong the horn can blow up and then you’re in the hospital for three WEEKS MISSING CLASSES AND WONDERING IF YOU MISSED A TEST AND-”

“Whoa Twilight, calm down,” said a slightly alarmed Lightning Dust as she took a step back.

“Yeah Twilight,” agreed Spike as he placed a clawed hand on her side. “You need to let that one go. Remember, you weren’t the only one who messed up that spell. Half of the class had to have their horns repaired so classes were put on hold. It was like a mini holiday.”

“But I shouldn’t have messed up Spike,” said Twilight as she rolled her eyes. “I was Princess Celestia’s student. I had bigger expectations.”

“That you put on yourself,” remarked Spike.

“So,” began Lightning as she placed a hoof on the device. “Nice to know how magical beams work and all that, but what do they have to do with this thing?”

“Oh,” blinked Twilight as she returned her focus to Lightning. “Simple. The blaster is basically going to give you the same thing. Think of it as an artificial unicorn horn, firing off energy blasts once enough power has been stored into this chambers. Or, if you like, its a cannon that will fire pojectiles the size and accuracy of arrows but with the force of a cannon ball.”

Lightning blinked at this information. “What?” was all she could say.

“Well the part we are working on right now is to control this,” said Twilight as she moved the blaster back and forth. “Once we get it all sorted out, you will be able to move the blaster, pick a target, and then fire concentrated energy at said target all with your mind.” Lightning saw Twilight open her mouth to continue talking, but the pegasus moved directly in front of her so that their eyes were mere inches apart.

“That. Sounds. Awesome!” said Lightning, hyping each word before stepping back. “Why didn’t you say you were making me into a warrior alicorn? This is like the best thing ever! I’ll be blasting enemies like ‘bwee’ ‘bwee’ ‘bwee’ and they’ll like ‘aaawwwww’ and then…”

“Well not exactly like that,” admitted Twilight as she talked over Lightning. However Lightning was no longer listening. She was up in the air, pointing her hooves at objects in the lab and making booming noises while she imagined them blowing up. She couldn’t believe that this was what was going to happen! It suddenly made all that boring sitting around seem almost worth it if she could wear armor that would let her do that kind of stuff.

“Well what are we waiting for!” exclaimed Lightning as she zoomed back to her seat. “Let get this thing going!”

-x-

“Now remember what we talked about Lightning,” said Twilight for what felt like the hundredth time as she finished securing a few straps across the pegasus’ barrel. Currently Lightning was wearing what looked like a black spandex vest over her upper body. Several straps had been added to keep Twilight’s blaster in place on her right side. She was also wearing a metal cap that had several dozen thin wires running out of it and into the blaster.

As Twilight continue to talk, Lightning was doing everything in her power to keep her hooves on the ground that was part of the apple orchard that was Sweet Apple Acres. However, this proved to be difficult due to the fact that for the last several weeks since Twilight had told her about what the armor would hopefully do, she had dreamed of nothing else. Ever since that day, Lightning had done everything in her power to help Twilight along with this project. She knew that the faster the princess worked, the sooner she would be able to try out this new toy.

After they finally finished mapping Lightning’s brain waves, they began to train her to move the blaster with her mind. Like before, she sat in her chair and was told to focus her attention on various targets Twilight had placed around the room. What was different was the blaster was hooked up to the chair as well. Each time Lightning focused on a target and it didn’t move, Twilight began to check the machine, the connections, and so forth before they tried again. This proved to be very time consuming with Lightning sitting in her seat for hours before they were ready to try again. It took six whole days before the blaster could move.

While those tests continued, Twilight began to check out various types of metals she could use to make the armor. She wanted something sturdier than the standard stuff they used so she began to order small samples of metals. Once they began to arrive, Twilight would halt the testing with the blaster to ask Lightning fly around with each sample. Then, when Lightning would land, Twilight would begin to ask her various questions that would determine if the metal would be used or not. So far all of the metals they had looked at were simply too heavy. Sure, they would protect Lightning from most attacks, but they would hinder her ability to fly. And that was something that didn’t sit well with either of them.

“Lightning!” shouted Twilight, causing the pegasus to jump slightly. “Are you paying attention?”

“Ahhh,” was all Lightning could saw as she looked into the tired and annoyed expression of her princess. It was clear to her that Twilight was pushing herself to do everything. From making the armor, her secret mirror project, and spending time with her friends Twilight was trying to do it all. In fact, Twilight had just returned from Rainbow Falls to see in Ponyville would be able to qualify for the Aerial Relay in the Equestria Games. And, as she could tell just by looking at her heavily lidded eyes, Twilight Sparkle was suffering from travel exhaustion.

In a way, it was because of this that had caused Lightning Dust to respect Twilight. Twilight was driven to do the things that mattered to her, giving it her everything. Lightning never liked ponies who half-flanked things, quitting when the job became too much or not even trying to see what they could really do. The best had to give it their all; it didn’t matter if you were a racer or a princess.

And Lightning was going to give this job her all as well.

During the time Twilight had been gone; Lightning had been sent to Canterlot to get some weapons training from Captain Shadow Blade. Personally, Lightning really like the bat stallion much more than Shiny the jerk. Rather than have her do standard drill with everypony else, the close combat expert had come up with a something tailor made for her. He showed her how to use her speed in combat, so she could take down several enemies before they blinked. When she left, he had written down several exercises that he wanted her to practice on while she was back in Ponyville that would serve her well.

It was hearing Twilight’s tired sigh that brought Lightning back to the situation at hoof. “Ok, one more time,” said the tired princess. “Since I haven’t figured out a proper power source that won’t weigh you down, I have the blaster connected directly to your pegasus magic.”

“This is going to be awesome!” exclaimed Lightning as she began to focus on a tree to her right. Slowly, the blaster pointed itself in the right direction causing Lightning to feel a slight tingle throughout her body. It was an odd sensation, but she still managed to smile with wicked confidence at the thought of what she could do with this weapon.

“This is just a test run,” stated Twilight as she stepped into the path of the blaster. “I want to see how long you can go flying around while blasting several targets I’ve set up around the farm. It’ll give me a good idea if this is a practical option. The moment you feel like you’re getting weak or something feels off, I want you to return to this spot. Is that understood?”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Lightning as she saluted Twilight with a wing. “I read you loud and clear. Now, can I please try this bad boy out? I’ve been waiting for an eternity.”

“Well I suppose so,” said Twilight, with a hint of hesitance in her voice. However, Lightning didn’t care for she was in the air as soon as Twilight finished her sentence.

As she soared through the air, Lightning took in a deep breath of fresh apples ready to be picked before she began to look for her first target. Her eyes began to scan the ground and the trees as she zipped around so fast that she was a blur leaving behind her trademark zigzag pattern. Then, soon enough, Lightning spotted a wooden bucket with a target painted on its side.

Smirking, Lightning focused on the center of the target and willed the blaster to fire. Once more she felt the tingle as the blaster moved followed by something else. It was like a draining sensation that was almost impossible to put into words. She suddenly found herself moving slower as a blast of light green energy fired from the blaster. With her eyes open wide, Lightning watched as it hit the side of the bucket rather than the center like she had wanted. Still, the bucket was destroyed, bits of it flailing into the air before falling back to the earth below.

“I guess that wasn’t too bad,” muttered Lightning before she spotted another target. “Ok, let’s see if I can’t hit a bull’s-eye!” Once more Lightning focused on another bucket with a target painted on it. Like before, she felt the tingle and the draining sensation as she moved slower. There was another blast of green energy that flew in front of her decelerating body only to miss the target completely. As she flew over the spot, Lightning saw that there was a deep indent in the ground that looked completely scorched.

Lightning let out a growl as she felt sweat appearing on her brow at a rate that should have alarmed her. However, the mare ignored it as her eyes narrowed; pushing past the exhaustion she was suddenly feeling as while looking for another target. She knew she had focused her aim perfectly. Everything seemed to be working fine so what was the problem? Why was she missing like this?

“Lightning!” called out Twilight, her voice being magically amplified so that it could carry across the orchard. Lightning turned her head to glance behind her to see the princess hovering above the trees while looking in her direction. “I’m noticing a rapid decrease in your speed. Head back towards me.”

Lightning knew she was moving slower than ever. Looking below her, she would now make out each and every leaf on the trees which, when she had started, had been nothing more than a blur to her. Her wings ached and sweat was now dripping off from her hooves. Not even the Wonderbolts Academy had caused her to feel like this even after a long day’s training. This from only firing the blaster twice. Perhaps it would be best to do what Twilight said.

As Lightning turned around, ready to return to Twilight, she spotted something just up ahead. Three buckets with the target symbol right next to each other in a neat little row. There they were right then, ready to be blasted to bits. Ready to be destroyed by the blaster on her back. Despite how tired she was feeling at the moment, she knew she could do a little bit more. Maybe one or two more shots. Besides, didn’t Twilight need all the data she could get? Two shots hardly seemed like enough info. Yeah, more is always better! And this was for Equestria after all. You had to give it your all and then some!

Grinning slightly, Lightning took aim at the center bucket while trying to fly as fast as she could. She could hear Twilight calling out her name, but Lightning tuned it out. Right now she needed to focus on the only thing that mattered, taking aim and then firing. As the blaster moved the tingling sensation returned, but now it was almost painful. Heart beating a little faster now, Lightning pushed through it so that she could focus everything on firing. There was another draining sensation, causing Lightning to feel her eyelids become heavy. As the green energy left her blaster, Lightning’s body became sluggish. She became aware of how badly she was panting and feeling light headed. It was becoming difficult to keep her wings flapping and her eye open.

Lightning could now barely see anything as she felt gravity pull her downwards. Her eyelids had grown so very heavy, it was taking an effort to keep them focused on the buckets. Off in the distance, she thought she heard Twilight yelling something but it was too far away for her to make out what she was saying. As the ground drew closer, Lightning saw the energy blast hit one of the buckets yet only singeing it a bit. Internally, Lightning swore before her head impacted something hard. And then everything went black.

-x-

“-told you that mare was reckless,” came a voice, rousing Lightning back to the waking world. Slowly the mare opened her eyes, only to wince in pain. She slowly opened them again, mindful of the bright lights and the white colored walls. She tried to move her head, but at the moment her body felt like it had been dipped in bronze, refusing to move an inch. She knew she was on her side for directly in front of her was a nightstand like the ones they have in a hospital. There was a tray of food there as well as several colorful ‘get well cards’.

Moving her eyes around, she noticed a door that was open just a crack. Most likely that was how she had managed to hear the mare speaking. Looking through the crack, Lightning could see a blue uniform that looked just like the one a Wonderbolt officer wore.

“I’m just relieved that the doctors say she’ll make a full recovery,” came the familiar voice of Twilight. Even as tired as she was, Lightning could still make out the weary traces mixed into the warmth of her voice.

“What about the weapon?” said the first voice, Lightning now recognizing the hoarse tone that belonged to Spitfire. “Is there any chance you can salvage it? Repair it with your magic?”

“I’m afraid not,” replied Twilight as Lightning felt guilt wash over her entire being. “As I stated in my report, the blaster took a nasty fall along with Lightning. When she hit the tree, it must have come loose because it landed on a few jagged rocks.”

“That is…regrettable,” said Spitfire slowly.

Regrettable was an understatement and Lightning knew it. All of Twilight’s hard work was destroyed because of her. If she had just listened to her when she had called her back then she wouldn’t have to remake the darn thing again. If Lightning hadn’t tried to make that shot, then she wouldn’t be in this bed. But at least she was ok and, according to Twilight, would make a full recovery. Yet, it didn’t make her feel as good as she thought it would. All she could think about was how she let Twilight down.

“So what do you plan to do with you ‘guard’?” asked Spitfire after a while. Lightning would have cringed if she had the strength. She knew this was the part where Twilight would toss her out on her sorry flank. There was no way that she would forgive her after something like this.

“Well first off I have some questions for her once she’s gotten enough rest,” began Twilight. “I need to know what exactly happened out there so that we can prevent something like this from happening again.”

Lightning blinked in confusion. From the way it sounded…

“That sounds like you aren’t tossing her out on her flank,” said Spitfire angrily. “Princess, I read the report you submitted. In your own words you said that Lightning was not paying attention to you and, when ordered to return to you, she deliberately disobeyed that command.” There was a pause that made Lightning gulp. “Princess, there is a reason I blacklisted her from any division of the E.U.P. Think what could have happened in you hadn’t had the foresight to make sure the area was clear. She could have crashed into one of the farm ponies who worked in that orchard or blasted one of them by mistake. This project is far too important to allow her to have any part in it, even if it’s just getting you hot chocolate! Look, if you really want a pegasus to be a part of this I know of a number of capable Wonderbolts who you can replace her with.”

“You mean, like how you tried to replace Soarin’?” asked Twilight harshly.

There was another long pause and when Spitfire spoke again it sounded like she was barely keeping her anger in check. “Are you going to throw that into my face again?! Lecture me about what I did and-”

“No Captain,” said Twilight in such a commanding voice that it stopped Spitfire in her tracks. “I see no point if discussing that ordeal ever again. You learned a lesson from that and I believe that Lightning Dust deserves the same chance so she can be a better pony.”

“And if she makes the same mistake and somepony else pays for it?” snarled Spitfire. “Like one of your friends or one of their little sisters?”

“Then I will share the blame with her,” said Twilight. “And take responsibility alongside my friend.”

There was another pause before Lightning saw Spitfire turn around. “I will be giving Princess Celestia my own report on this matter. Perhaps I will be able to get her to see reason.” And with a fluttering of wings, Spitfire took off.

For a moment, Lightning continued to lay there as so many emotions ran amuck inside of her. Anger at Spitfire as well as a sense of validation at the fact that she had been blacklisted from getting a job within the Royal Guard. Heck, at the time Shiny the jerk had been Captain of the Guard and would have seen it, allowing it to color his opinion on somepony as awesome as her. There was relief that she was not being kicked out of her new home within the library and was happy that Twilight was giving her another chance. She felt worried for Twilight, hoping that Princess Celestia wouldn’t be too hard on her.

Then…there was something else. Something that Lightning couldn’t place a hoof on. It was something warm and refreshing that came deep inside her when Twilight not only stood up for her, but also called her a friend. She had, of course, had friends before. But none of them had ever done anything so touching for her. She felt like she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time which made no sense to her. And, oddly enough, she suddenly found herself feeling a thousand times worse for messing up.

“Lightning! You’re awake!” cried Twilight who Lightning just noticed was standing in front of her. Strange, she had been so lost in her own emotions she hadn’t heard her come in.

“Yeah,” was all Lightning was able to say as she tried to sit up. Tried being the key words for it was next to impossible to even try and lie on her back. No matter how much she grunted, groaned, and gritted her teeth Lightning still found herself unable to move.

“Lightning, please stop,” said Twilight quickly as she looked down on the pegasus with a worried expression. “The doctors believe that you depleted your pegasus magic too much too quickly, causing your body to shut down like this. Later today they’re doing to try and use a few spells that should help you recover. If all goes well you should be out in a few days. Of course there’ll be some follow ups after that.”

“Right,” breathed Lightning, feeling helpless.

“If there is anything I can do, just let me know,” said Twilight as she tried to smile. Oddly enough, it didn’t have the effort she was going for. Instead of it making Lightning feel better it only made her feel worse.

“Twilight,” said Lightning as she looked up at her princess while feeling something burning in the back of her throat. Like that wad of cotton she had tried to swallow as a filly. “I-I’m so sorry. What I did back there was stupid. I…I really let you down after everything you’ve done for me.”

Silence feel between them, the only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock. Lightning waited with baited breath for Twilight to begin laying down the law on her. To rub her mistakes in her face in the hopes that Lightning would learn her lesson. To threaten if she ever did anything like that again she would be back in that dumb crystal prison. To use her magic in order to cause her more pain. In the end, however, what she said was something Lightning would never have expected.

“It’s ok Lightning,” said Twilight.

“B-But aren’t you angry?” demanded Lightning, her voice somewhat timid and confused. “I set you back so much. Because of me the blaster was destroyed and you’ll have to build another one! Y-You might even get in trouble with Princess Celestia.”

“I’m not angry, just slightly disappointed in you,” replied Twilight firmly. “Lightning, the work we have done will continue. The blaster can be rebuilt. There will always be new data and upgrades we can do. But there is one thing that can never be replaced and that is you. There will ever only be one Lightning Dust in this world. So in the future, try not to be so reckless with your life.”

Lightning gulped as best she could as her throat suddenly became very dry, her eyes feeling like they were going to tear up. For the moment, she found herself unable to form any words as she looked at Twilight for what seemed like the first time in so very long. The purple princess looked beyond tired. There were dark lines under her eyes and it looked like she was doing her best to stay awake. Yet despite that, she looked more relieved than anything.

“I…I promise,” said Lightning sincerely.

“Good,” replied Twilight with a weak smile. “Now then, I want you to get some rest. I promised Spike he could have the next two weeks off so you’ll be taking over his duties. Think of it as your punishment for what happened during the testing.”

Lightning managed a smile herself, happy that she had lost neither her home nor her friend.

Living Nightmare

About a week and a half later found Lightning walking back to the library from the market, her saddle bags full of food for tonight’s dinner. True to her word, as soon as Lightning had been cleared from the hospital, Twilight had given Lightning all of Spike’s chores around the library. Now she was in charge of sweeping up the floor, cleaning the windows, re-re-organizing the shelves, picking up after Twilight, and so much more. Despite this, Lightning did her best not to complain. She wasn’t happy about it because all this new work cut into her flying and personal time, but she was happy to still be here.

When she wasn’t doing chores, Lightning was doing her best to help a far more panicky Twilight. Once the pegasus had gotten out of the hospital she had told Twilight everything that had gone wrong during the flight test of the blaster weapon. To say she was alarmed would be an understatement.

“Oh no, this is horrible,” Twilight had said after Lightning finished talking, looking over her blueprints rapidly. “Is there a problem with the interface? It seemed to work perfectly at close range, so is it the distance or the speed of your flight that messed up your aim? And the energy drain might be inconsistent. That’s why the strength of the blasts varied! Or…Or maybe it tried to drain more magical energy than what you had! Either way I’ll have to look into this. Perhaps it might even be better if I could figure out a better power source. But what could be small enough that could supply the weapon with enough power for more than one shot?” These questions and more were heard throughout the home on what felt like an endless loop as Twilight went back to work on the armor.

Something else happened after Lightning returned from the hospital, something that worried her greatly about her friend. On the first night back, she could hear Twilight tossing and turning in her bed followed by whimpering noises. Eventually, Twilight would get out of bed and Lightning, who had her eyes open just a crack, could see Twilight staring at the pegasus’ bed for several long minutes as she caught her breath. Finally, Twilight would go downstairs and wouldn’t return for several hours. And this seemed to be a nightly occurrence.

Both Lightning and Spike could not help but take notice to the change in Twilight’s behavior. Some days she seemed lost in her own, sleep deprived world while other times she was snappish and rude. She would become forgetful and panic more so than she normally would. Every time one of them approached her in an effort to find out what was wrong she would avoid the subject until she yelled at them to drop it. While not exactly friends, Lightning and Spike became united in a single goal of trying to help Twilight out. The two bounced ideas off of each other ranging from getting all of Twilight’s friends together so they could confront her as a group to contacting Princess Luna. In the end, they decided that it might be best to help her out until she came forwards to them herself with what was bothering her. Both admitted that this wasn’t the best course, however they wanted Twilight to know that they could be trusted with whatever was bothering her. That she could come to them. If they did something else, there was a chance that it would be seen as going behind her back even if it did help her out.

But they were not going to be reckless about this and simply leave her to her own devices. Both Lightning and Spike would be there by her side whenever she needed them. Or not. While Lightning did all of her jobs, Spike constantly offered up his help despite the fact that this was his vacation. Sometimes he would even just sit in the lab, reading his comics while waiting for a chance to help Twilight out while at the same time being out of the way. And if either one thought that this had gone on long enough, they would confront her one last time and would not allow her to avoid the question.

Even if it meant she would hate one of them.

When Lightning finally arrived home she was greeted by an unusual sight. Twilight brought up one of the blackboards from the basement and had attached several of the blueprints for her armor design on it. That, as well as a few other things that caused Lightning to tilt her head as she slowly closed the door. There was a ‘hang in there’ kitty poster, a picture of Spike in diapers, a half eaten sandwich, and Rainbow Dash’s fanfiction. In her magical grasp was a wooden pointer that seemed to wobble around a bit, even though it looked like Twilight was doing her best to keep it still for her guest.

Said guest was a brown unicorn with a black mane and a grey suit. As Lightning moved around the room, being careful not to make too much noise, she noticed the very familiar facial hair of one Top Spark who she had seen on billboards advertising Spark Industries. Heck, when she was trying to get into the Royal Guard there were pamphlets for Spark Industries lying on several of the seats. From what she had been able to glance at was that they produced many of Equestria’s and the Crystal Empire’s weapons along with several other things that had bored the mare at the time.

The savvy smile he had worn on those pictures was sadly absent, however, as he looked at Twilight who looked like a complete mess. It was clear that she was losing weight despite Lightning’s and Spike’s best efforts to keep her fed. Her coat was looking a paler and more than a little unhealthy. Her mane was unkempt with several dozen strands sticking out in all directions. Her face clearly looked like she needed sleep like a fish needs water.

“Princess Sparkle,” said Mr. Spark. “It is clear that this has been a waste of my time.”

“But I’m not finished,” said Twilight quickly as Mr. Spark stood up, raising a hoof to stop him.

“Normally I would love to be alone and in the company of a lovely mare such as yourself,” he said, turning around so as not to look at her and heading for the door. “But, frankly, I can only hear so much of this talk of science fiction before it becomes too much for me to bear. What you are asking is simply impossible. Nopony could ever do it and I am not willing to lose bits trying.” Now he was at the door. He turned to look at Twilight and his expression softened considerably. “Princess, if you wish to speak to me about business please get some rest before you do so again.”

As the door closed behind him, Twilight let out a groan before her face met the floor below. Lightning watched as Twilight’s body began to sag downwards, wondering what had happened. When she had left a few hours ago Twilight looked a mess, but she was also wearing bunny slippers and a matching pink robe as she ate her breakfast. Since today was free, something Lightning had made a point in checking this morning, she had told Spike that he could go and check on what Rarity was doing. So the question was how did this happen?

“Ok Twilight,” said Lightning as she moved over to the princess. “Let’s get you to bed while you explain to me what happened.”

“Don’t wanna,” mumbled Twilight, her face still pressed against the floor. Rolling her eyes, Lightning bent down and wrapped a wing around Twilight’s barrel before standing up. Twilight’s body was limp and heavy, yet thanks to all of her training Lightning was able to handle it. Slowly the two began to make their way towards the stairway while the pegasus gave her alicorn friend a worried look.

“Twilight, what happened?” she said as they took the first step up the stair. “I thought today was a free day.”

Twilight sigh. “I thought it was too. But when Mr. Spark appeared at the door, I remembered that I had sent him a letter asking to meet with him to talk about his prototype high powered magical battery. Princess Celestia told me he was working on it in one of our letters and I thought it might help with powering the blaster. I guess I forgot he replied and said he would be here today.”

“Well you have been sending out a lot of letters lately,” said Lightning in an understanding tone as they reached the upper level of the library. “I mean, you’ve been talking to the princesses, doctors about crossbreed syndrome, asking about various ponies, and I don’t know what else. Normally I would say that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, but ever since I’ve known you you’ve written every appointment down three times to make sure you wouldn’t forget it.”

“I know!” groaned Twilight as they came to the bed and sat down next to it. “I had to quickly rush together a presentation and, Celestia I don’t know what I was thinking. Halfway through talking about how the battery would be used I started talking to him about helping me with it!!” As Twilight continued to talk, she failed to notice that Lightning was making her way into the bathroom. When she emerged, the pegasus had with her a glass of water as well as two sleeping pills.

“Well, from the sounds of it, even he noticed you need some rest,” said Lightning as sat down next to Twilight. She then held out the pills. “So you can contact him again after you get some rest and then-”

“NO!” Twilight suddenly screamed before knocking the pills away with her hoof. With a sudden burst of energy the princess leapt away from both the bed and a stunned Lightning. Well, stunned for a moment at least. Seeing that she might have to do this the hard way caused Lightning to let out an annoyed sigh as her eyes narrowed.

“Seriously Twilight?” demanded Lightning, causing Twilight to flinch and look away. “After what just happened are we really going to have this conversation?” Twilight turned to face Lightning, her mouth open but Lightning never gave her a chance to lie to her. “Don’t tell me you’re fine because we both know you’re not. Even Spike knows something is wrong with you!”

Lightning marched over to Twilight so that they were only inches apart. Lightning knew that if Twilight wanted to she could teleport away, freeze Lightning in place, or a dozen or so other spells that would allow her to flee. But her eyes were trembling and she was biting her lower lip. The princess was so scared of something right now that she could barely concentrate on anything except what was right in front of her. And that was just fine with Lightning.

“The two of us have been waiting for you to come to us with whatever the hay is wrong with you. But that ends here!” Lightning punctuated this by stomping a hoof down with enough force that the wood cracked a tiny bit. “You are going to get into that bed, take these Celestia damned pills, and get some sleep or else I will fly all the way to Canterlot and get every princess I can find in on this.”

“I…” began Twilight, her breathing quickening to an abnormal pace even for her.

“No Twilight,” said Lightning. “Whatever bad dreams you’re having can’t be-”

“I CAN’T KEEP WATCHING YOU DIE!” screamed Twilight

Lightning stood there for a moment with her mouth hanging open. “You…what?” she asked.

“I can’t keep losing you,” said a panicked Twilight, tears appearing in her eyes. “I thought I was over it all, but ever since your accident the nightmares won’t stop. Every night I watch you die while being helpless to do anything just like with Crescent Hope! I struggle to try anything I might have missed the last time, but in the end it’s all the same. Not enough time, not enough options, too far away. They all equal seeing you burn to death and…and…”

Lightning watched in confusion as Twilight began to break down right in front of her eyes. She had no idea how a head injury translated into being burned alive nor did she have any idea who or what Crescent Hope was. But, all the same, Lightning saw the effect her accident had on her friend. Right now, that was the key thing. Everything else could wait.

“Twilight,” said Lightning loudly, getting the attention of the princess. Once she was sure she had it, her next words came out more gently than before. “Twilight, you just have to remember that they are just nightmares. I’m safe and sound because you helped get me to the hospital, remember?” Twilight nodded. “Ok, so just keep that in mind as you go to bed. I’ll be right here by your side while you sleep the whole time. And when Spike gets here I’ll have him send a message to Princess Luna about this.”

“B-But I c-can’t,” stammered Twilight, her eyes growing wide in terror for some reason.

Lightning groaned while fighting to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Why was this so difficult? “Ok then,” she said. “How about this? You try to get some sleep and if you’re still having trouble then we’ll call on Princess Luna.”

“I…,” began Twilight before sighing. Lightning let a smug grin slip onto her features. She could see the defeat in Twilight’s eyes even before she nodded. The pegasus gestured with her wing to the bed and Twilight walked over to it with her head hanging low as if this were a death sentence. As Twilight crawled into bed, Lightning zipped away and returned with more pills. She watched closely as Twilight took them, even inspecting her friend’s mouth to make sure she had swallowed them.

“Lightning,” said Twilight as she laid her head on the pillow. “Y-You’re going to stay here the whole time, right? You’ll be here when I wake up?”

“Yeah,” replied Lightning, feeling a bit like she was reassuring a scared foal instead of a freaking princess. Even going as far as to pat her bed in a similar manner as when she was small. Er, not that she was ever got scared or anything like that. Just, ah, something her mother used to do!

Within minutes, the pills took effect thanks to their magical properties. Twilight’s heavy eyelids began to close and her body began to become lax under the covers. Lightning could even make out Twilight’s breathing which became a bit more shallow. Seeing this caused Lightning to smile in triumph. Twilight was finally resting.

-x-

The next several hours were some of the worst in Lightning’s entire life due to one all consuming factor: boredom. To a pegasus like herself, boredom was her natural enemy. There was nothing to do to pass the time while Twilight slept. Sure, she had tried finding something to do like looking at Twilight’s books for something to read. See the problem with that was, well, none of those books interested her! Nearly all of them were about magic, science, and everything school related. Things that Lightning swore she would never open again after she got out of school. The best she could find were a few books about legends that Twilight had been reading, but those didn’t even have any good action scenes or pictures.

More than once, Lightning thought about heading downstairs into the main library to search for something she might like. Every time, however, she realized just as quickly that she couldn’t. She had promised Twilight that she would stay here, be here when she woke up. True, Lightning was one of the fastest pegasi in Equestria. She could be in and out in a second…if she knew what book she wanted. The thing was that she didn’t know what to read and, well, Twilight had a lot of books that she would have to go through in order to find something interesting enough for her. And knowing her luck, Twilight would begin to stir while she was down there.

The only real break she got was when Spike finally got home. She was able to pass some time by telling him what was going on and he was able to provide some food for her to eat. As she was telling Spike about what had happened, he seemed to get a look that screamed ‘I just realized something important.’ That or he had to use the restroom. Either option was a good guess. He did offer to let Lightning go out and stretch her wings while he remained by Twilight’s side, which was nice of the baby dragon. Yet, Lightning refused to break her promise no matter how tempting the sky looked at that moment.

So that left Lightning Dust in a very undesirable position. While Spike read from his comic stash (something Lightning thought of as nerd books), Lightning was left to pace back and forth or doing a few exercises to pass the time. As she did, her mind began to think back on some of Twilight’s actions. And she began to develop a theory, one that she would have to talk to Twilight about as soon as the purple mare awoke.

It was well past midnight when Twilight began to stir. Spike was snoozing in his basket bed, still holding one of his comics tightly in a clawed hand while drool moved down his chin. As for Lightning, she had been fighting an uphill battle to stay awake as she went over what she would say to her boss. Taking a deep breath to ready herself, Lightning moved over to the bed while Twilight sat upright. Yawning loudly, Lightning watched as Twilight stretched her forelegs in the air.

“Evening Twilight,” said Lightning as she looked at Twilight’s face. Sleep had done her a world of good, looking fresher than she had for a while now.

“What?” asked Twilight who looked over at the window to see the star filled sky. Her head then shot over to the counter where her alarm clock was before surprise overtook her. “Oh my Celestia, look at the time! I can’t believe I slept so long.”

“What can I say, you needed it,” replied Lightning.

“And Lightning,” continued Twilight. “Have you been up this whole time?”

“I promised you I’d be here when you woke up,” said Lightning with a nod. “Don’t worry, Spike brought me plenty to eat and I managed to keep myself busy.”

“Spike!” Twilight all but shouted as she looked over at the sleeping dragon.

“He’s fine, just worried about you,” said Lightning. “And don’t worry, we didn’t send any mail while you were out. Nopony outside of this tree house knows what happened.” As she finished her sentence, Lightning let out a loud yawn causing Twilight to giggle.

“I think it’s your turn to get some rest,” said Twilight with a grin. “Don’t worry about me; I’ll take some more pills so I can get a bit more rest. But first I could go for some-”

“Actually Twilight,” interrupted Lightning. “Before either of us does anything, we need to talk. About…us.”

Twilight cringed at that. “I guess that’s to be expected,” she said softly.

“I’ve been thinking about a lot of things since you’ve been asleep,” said Lightning. “About your nightmares and some of the things you said. How you singled me out when there are plenty of other ponies out there who you could have picked. Even I know that it might have been smarter to pick a Wonderbolt or some random Guard for something like this. I don’t think the reason is that I’m disposable because you have been way, way too awesome to me. So, I need to ask you one question: are you in love with me?” Time seemed to stop the moment Lightning said that with a slight smile on her face. Twilight, after returning to the present, seemed to be imitating a fish out of water while her face turned bright red.

“W-W-W-What?” she stammered.

“I mean, it’s cool if you are,” said Lightning while waving a hoof around in an off hooved manner. “Look, I know I have probably the most desired, well toned flank in all of Equestria. I get that and, well, to be honest I’d date myself in a heartbeat if I could! But, if that’s the case, then I have to tell you it would never work out. You’re cool, but I’m not into mares. Even if I were, I don’t think it would be a good idea to date my boss.”

“I’m already dating Shadow!” said Twilight, her face almost glowing like a red night light at the moment.

“Oh,” said Lightning a still smile lingering on her face. “But I didn’t hear a no so-”

“I’m not bi,” said Twilight. “Lightning, I am not romantically interested you in any way. Nothing is ever going to grow between us besides friendship.”

“Well that answers that question,” said Lightning with a nod. “Ok then.” With that, Lightning turned and began to walk over to her bed.

“Wait,” said Twilight in surprise, the red on her face vanishing quickly as Lightning stopped in her tracks. “I thought you wanted to talk about us. I thought you wanted answers!”

Lightning sighed. “I do,” she said as she turned to look at Twilight. “And since you said you’re not in love with me, that must mean that there is a more important reason you picked me but don’t want to tell me. And I know what will happen. You’ll tell me this big and important thing that you kept from me in order to protect me or some garbage like which only ends up causing me to feel betrayed. We’ll get into a fight or not talk to each other because of whatever this is until I finally leave. Eventually I’ll get sad about leaving, realize the reason why you didn’t tell me, and return. We’ll hug it out, promise never to keep secrets from each other ever again, and so on. So, can we just fast forward to the end and skip everything that happened in the middle?”

Twilight raised a hoof, pointing it at Lightning with her mouth open, but no words came out. She just stood there as her hoof slowly returned to the ground with a confused look in her eyes. Finally she said, “Really?”

“Yep,” replied Lightning while nodding her head.

“Are you sure?” asked Twilight, clearly taken about by this. “I mean, aren’t you curious?”

“I had a lot of time to think about this,” said Lightning. “I mean, yeah I want to know. It’s bugging me like knowing where the Hearth’s Warming gifts are hidden. The same desire to find out what’s in the box is killing me.” Lightning then let out a sigh. “But, as much as I want to know I don’t want to lose what we have now. I don’t know why you picked me. Maybe we met before, had an adventure together, and my memory got wiped clean at the end. Maybe you met a clone or something like that. Maybe you had a past life experience and saw us together. I don’t know. All I do know is this. To be honest, you’ve become my best friend and been more than awesome to me. I don’t want to do anything that might ruin this, what we have right now. So, yeah, I’m good.”

What happened next was a blur to Lightning. One moment, Twilight was standing several feet away from her with a teary expression on her face. The next thing she knew was Twilight’s hooves wrapping around her to give her a hug with the light of magic fading in the background.

“Oh Lightning,” cried Twilight as she hugged her friend tighter.

“Gah,” grunted Lightning. “Too mushy, too mushy!”

Final Results

Several months later, Lightning stood out in a clearing with the shadow of Twilight’s stupid castle surrounding her. Lightning did her best to ignore what she thought was the dumbest thing in all of Equestria. Seriously, Twilight and her friends spent all that time trying to fix up the old castle for NOTHING! Why couldn’t the stupid Tree of Harmony make a merger of the old castle mixed with crystal towers with the symbols of the Elements or something like that? Not to mention that she really hated crystal.

“Head in the game rookie,” came a loud voice that brought her back into the moment. She blinked and began to focus on Shadow Blade who was standing in front of her with an unamused expression. Seeing this made Lightning Dust wince slightly before her eyes darted over to the side where her princess was.

Twilight was seated on a cushion reserved for royalty along with many others. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there, sitting on either side of her while the royal couple were a bit off to the right. Out of all of them, Twilight looked the most eager while Celestia, Luna, and Cadence held hopeful yet reserved expressions. Shiny the jerk, on the other hoof, had a stone hard look on his face that made him look constipated. Also with them were various nobles like Blueblood, Fancy Pants, North Star, Fine Dining, and so forth. All of them had their eyes on Lightning Dust. Or, rather, what Lightning Dust was wearing.

Her new armor.

Lightning, who had stared at it on her in the mirror several times before now, knew it looked awesome on her. Twilight had chosen to go with a metallic silver color with very few artistic flares so as to not ruin its sleekness or get caught up with pointless things like feathers on the helmet and the like. The helmet was very bare bones with the only thing to make it stand out being the small wing like design right above where Lightning’s eyes were. Plus there was a green visor that Lightning could be pulled down from inside the helmet with a thought.

The metal used to make the armor was something special. Unable to find something that suited their needs naturally, Twilight turned to magic. After pouring through various tomes of research brought over from Canterlot, she discovered a few theories on enchanting armor. One of them stated that defensive spells had longer life spans and worked better during the early phases of the armors creation. Specifically when the metal was in a melted state, ready to be put into the molds. The only problem that they had was that it took more power and skill than an average unicorn had in order to do this properly. Luckily for them, Twilight Sparkle was an alicorn with above average skill and power. Thanks to her the armor was much lighter than the average set used by the Royal Guard, far more durable, and a bit more magic resistant.

From the back of the helmet there was metal cord that went down her spine and into the main body of the armor. With that, the only decoration to it was the purple princess’ cutie mark place on her chest. Any wires or gizmos that Twilight had placed into it were hidden either within or under the armor to keep them from being damaged in a fight. There were two more cords that ran down her forelegs and into her hoof guards. These were a bit different from the normal ones because of the curved bump in the front of her hoof. That was where Twilight had placed the blasters.

This had been a tough pill for Twilight to swallow. She had tried over and over again to try and work on the original blaster. However, the programming of the targeting system was proving too much for her as well as it being too stressful. In the end, Twilight had to go back to the drawing board to come up with something else. While the hoof blasters lacked the raw power of the original, their smaller size allowed for rapid firing capabilities as well as being hidden to throw the opponent off guard. Not to mention the fact that Lightning had two blasters instead of one!

Of course getting a power source for the blaster as well as a few other extra features for the armor had been tricky. Despite being better rested when Twilight went back to see Sparks, the guy had held firm in his decision. So, for a time, Twilight began to look into some other power sources that she might be able to use. None of them were able to hold the necessary power needed or were simply too heavy. For the longest time, the most powerful battery they were able to find had both the size and weight of a cinderblock. Not something that would help them out. Thankfully, luck was on their side. While Twilight had gone off on a quest some dumb map had sent her and her friends to, she had bumped into a stallion she had been looking for: Gigawatt. Apparently he had once been the owner of a small business that went under before he and his family moved to Our Town. Once the town had been freed from that psychopath, Twilight had sat down with him and found out that he had been working towards storing actual lightning into tiny cartridges that sadly nopony wanted. Well, nopony but Twilight, who seemed very eager to work with him.

It was a pity they hadn’t found him sooner. If they had had Gigawatt’s power cartridge sooner, Lightning might have been able to help Twilight in the battle against Tirek. While the Spark battery was powerful, it did not change the fact that it was still magic by nature and could have been absorbed by the greedy centaur. Gigawatt’s technology, on the other hoof, was raw electricity. Maybe then Lightning would have been able to go out instead of staying in the basement of the library, making sure that everything they had worked on stayed safe under the protective barrier that Twilight had long ago put in place. While their home had been destroyed, none of their hard work was lost.

“Thank you all for coming,” said Captain Shadow Blade as he addressed all of the important ponies in the crowd. “Today, you will be witnessing the performance of the latest developments in military technology. I know many of you have expressed your concerns on the amount of bits have been poured into this project. It is my hope that what you witness here today will show that your bits have been well spent.”

Shadow paused as his left wing gestured to what was behind him, a somewhat impressive looking makeshift fort that a pony might see Appleloosa. The structure was made of large wooden spikes that had a very noticeable sharp point to them, making Lightning flinch at the thought of falling on them. Large and imposing, the fort also had a total of four towers, one on each end that also held two ponies in each. But beyond that, Lightning was in the dark. She didn’t know how big it was until she got into the air nor did she have any idea on the number of ponies inside.

“The test that we present you with today is a simple game of capture the flag,” continued Shadow Blade. “It is something we do to test our troops from time to time. Normally we would have two equally matched teams with bases and their own colored flags, yet for this we will be doing things a little differently. Private Lightning Dust will be by herself and will have to retrieve the red flag from that base full of members of the Guard picked by both me and Prince Shining Armor. The Private has not been given any information on the ponies inside like the number within or what tribes they belong to. In short, she is going in blind. The game will end only if the Private is captured, gives up, or gets the flag.”

“Forgive me, Captain,” said Princess Celestia. “I do not wish to denounce the amount of effort that went into creating this test. Yet I cannot help but feel like this might be a little too much for young Lightning Dust. Some information on what she’s facing wouldn’t hurt, would it?”

“I believe that this is the best course, Princess,” stated Shadow as he turned to look Celestia in the eyes. “I have gone over what Princess Twilight has written describing the capabilities of the armor. That, along with the training Private Lightning Dust has received, leads me to believe that the best way to present this new technology is to put it in a situation that seems impossible. I have confidence in the princess’s creation as well as the skills I have personally seen in Lightning.”

For a moment, Princess Celestia stared at the captain before she sighed. “Very well,” she said. “I will trust in your judgement.”

Shadow Blade gave her a quick salute before readdressing the rest of the group. “When I give the order, the test will begin,” he stated calmly. “But before that, does anypony have any questions?” As far as Lightning could see, several of the nobles were more interested in how shiny their hooves were or the state of their attire. Perhaps they, like Princess Celestia, felt like the odds were far too much for one mare to handle and, unlike Princess Celestia, felt that this was now a waste of time seeing that they knew the outcome. The other nobles seemed to look a bit more curious now to see if the armor would live up to the hype.

“BEGIN!” shouted Shadow Blade so loudly that several of the nobles jumped in their seats.

With that, Lightning was off and flying directly towards the fort. Already, the four unicorns were charging their horns so that they could strike Lightning down. She knew that they were only the opening act, that there would be more inside the fort with horns and arrows raised towards the sky to take her out. While Lightning had confidence that the armor could stand up to anything they could throw at her, Twilight had reminded her plenty of times not to take that for granted. While the armor did protect most of her vitals, there was still plenty of openings that, if she wasn’t careful, would cost her dearly. All it would take was a shot from an arrow or a spell blast aimed at her torso that missed, hitting her wing by dumb luck, and she might never get to fly again.

So, as she began to charge her blasters, Lightning decided not to give them that chance. Speeding up so that she was a blur to the naked eye, Lightning fired both blasters at the wall in front of her. Several times the sound ‘bweee’ could be heard followed by thin, blue bolts of energy that struck the wood before her, blackening and weakening it. Then, at the last possible second, Lighting pulled her forelegs so that they covered her head right before she made impact to plow through the wall. She could still feel the impact which slightly dazed her, but she knew without both the armor and those blasts she would have gone splat against it.

As pieces of wood flew through the air, Lightning could see that she had been right. Earth and pegasus pony archers were all standing on their hind legs with their weapons ready to fire towards the field of empty blue above them. Unicorn horns were glowing as they too prepared for an aerial assault. Almost nopony there had the time to even turn their heads to look at Lightning as she readied her gauntlets to fire upon all the helpless members of the Guard before her. With a grin, she began to fire wildly, twisting and turning in the air without slowing down any. Each time one of the bolts hit somepony, it looked like a small burst of static running across their coats and armor before they screamed right before falling to the hard ground. More than once, she slammed into some random Guard without care, knocking them out while barely feeling a bit of the impact herself.

Sadly, she was unable to get everypony. A few, she wasn’t sure how many exactly, managed to get their wits about them. She could see the pegasi move into the air, spreading out with arrows pointed at her. The earth ponies began to dodge her attacks while the unicorns began to put up magical barriers. She heard somepony beginning to shout out orders, getting them to regroup and coordinate a plan.

Lightning Dust wasn’t going to let that happen.

Thinking quickly, Lightning began to shoot randomly at the ground to kick up as much dust as possible. Within the first few blasts, a fog of dust seemed to fill the inside of the fort. All around her Lightning could hear coughing between the shouts of Guards wondering where she was. She listened to the best of her ability for the sound of arrows flying through the air, but couldn’t. Most likely those in the air were hesitant to fire when they couldn’t see the target and there was a greater chance to hit a fellow Guard.

Thankfully, Lightning wasn’t as limited as they were for her visor had begun to emit a soft glow as soon as the dust fog appeared. This was another more of the special spells Twilight had placed on the armor and it was outstanding. The charm basically ‘cleaned up’ most things that could interfere with her vision. Fighting in the sky and all of a sudden it began to rain hard? Well, she’ll still be wet but at least she’d be able to see her enemy. Fighting in the desert and a freak sand storm hits? The wind will be a pain in her flank along with the heat, but the sand will never get into her eyes and she’ll still be able to see everything that’s going on. Trapped in a lightless cave? Well, on that one even Twilight admitted it would be impossible for her to see everything. But the small amount she would be able to get would be better than nothing.

Acting fast, Lightning began to look around for the flag. Right now, getting the flag and winning was more important than fighting. She might be able to take them all down before the dust settles, but she also knew she might not. Lightning had already messed up one test already and she wasn’t going to let Twilight down again. Not like this! While she didn’t see it out in the open, Lightning did spot a shack on the opposite side of the fort from where she had originally entered. Since it was her best, and only, visible option at the moment Lightning opened her wings to head over to it. Hopefully she would be able to grab it and zoom out of here before anypony got their bearings back.

While the plan was solid, things rarely ever go the way a pony wants them to. As soon as her hooves were off the ground, a force like a wind swept over the area to lift the dust away. Seeing that she was losing her cover, Lightning charged towards the shed with the intent to carry out her plan as best as she could. As she flew her body was covered in a blue glow while, at the same time, her movement began sluggish. A green glow was added to the blue causing her to fall to the ground. Lightning slowly began to rise, feeling like her body was trapped in a thick pool of mud.

Looking around she spotted the unicorns who used to be in the towers. Now they were on the ground with two of them using their magic in an attempt to keep her in place. Once again, however, the armor was proving itself by dampening their effectiveness. Had she not been wearing it, all it would have taken was one of them using that spell and she would have been done for. However, those unicorns also seemed to realize this for two more colors, orange and yellow, were added to the mix that surrounded Lightning body.

“I think we got her!” shouted one of the unicorns. “Surround her and end this!” While that command was being issued, those of the Guard left standing were dropping their ranged weapons to pick up their melee ones. Swords and spears in hoof, they began to surround Lightning who was gritting her teeth. Not out of anger or frustration, but in concentration as she slowly began to lift her hoof as she fought against her magical restraints while her coat began to dampen with sweat.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” said one of the unicorns who was the unlucky one Lightning aimed at. Before anypony could say or do anything, Lightning had given the mental command to fire her weapon. Once he was hit, the magic he had been adding to the spell faded and Lightning found it a tad easier to move again. The Guard charged at her now, ready to stop her once and for all, but Lightning was now firing her blaster rapidly so that she could hit everything as she moved her hoof towards the next unicorn holding her down.

Now free from two of them, Lightning was able to leap slightly out of the path of the rest of the Guard and fire upon the third. This one cried out as Lightning found her movements almost completely unrestricted, allowing her to move just above a trot and below a gallop in an effort to evade the Guard. She could feel the last one pouring all of his magic into the spell in the hopes that it might slow her down. All it did was, in the end, make his horn glow brighter allowing Lightning to spot him more easily. And, with a single shot, Lightning took down the last of the unicorns holding her back.

Now completely free, Lightning’s instincts told her to take to sky where she belonged. Agreeing with the idea, Lightning opened her wings and pushed off towards the pegasi who had their arrows pointed at her. Together they fired on the armored pegasus with the truest of aim. Sadly, they had forgotten how fast Lightning could be. Not wasting a second, Lightning blurred through the air leaving her signature trail in her wake as she easily avoided the projectiles to get right in front of her aerial enemies. One by one, she slammed her gauntlet into their chest before firing, effectively knocking them out before moving to the next one. The Guards below saw this and ran to catch their comrades as best they could.

When the last one had fallen to Lightning’s attacks, she looked down at the small group remaining. She was unsure how many were left, but still smiled at seeing more of them laying on the ground than standing. And now that she held the high ground (er, air?) she decided that she should make the most of it before they picked up their ranged weapons and powered up their horns. She pointed both gauntlets towards those below her, planning on taking them all out before she went for the flag.

As she was about to give the command to fire, the flap of a wing behind coupled with a powerful blow to her side that knocked her to the left by several yards interrupted that plan. While she didn’t feel at all hurt, Lightning would be a horrible liar if she ever said that she wasn’t startled or shocked by what had just happened. Even more so when she saw who had attacked her. It was a bat pony mare with a blood red colored coat and dark green mane that covered one of her eyes. Fitted in the purple armor of the Night Guard she wielded a large axe that she carried with both hooves along with two bandoliers full of grenades that crisscrossed the barrel of her armor.

I’ll really have to thank Twilight for making the armor this tough, thought Lightning as she eyed the weapon the bat pony had while panting hard. If it hadn’t, I might have been cut in half!

“Oh no!” shouted one of the Guards below, sounding like he was about to piss in his armor. “Who woke up Overkill?! I thought we agreed to let her sleep!”

“Pull yourself together!” came another shouting officer. “She’s on our side this time!”

If they said anything else, Lightning wasn’t listening due to the fact that Overkill was soaring towards her with her axe raised high above her head. In response, Lightning pointed one of her blaster gauntlets at the bat pony and gave the metal command to fire…only for nothing to happen. Her eyes widened in terror as she realized she must have used up all the power her suit had already. Acting quickly, Lightning raised both forelegs above her head in an effort to block the attack. When Overkill struck, Lightning was sent downwards screaming thanks once again to the power of the blow. She felt like she had lost both limbs, but looking up proved that that was thankfully not the case.

Lightning found it difficult now to breathe as she righted herself. As her eyelids began to get a bit heavy, Lightning realized the mistake she had made. The blitz she had used to take out all those pegasi had been a double edged sword, sapping a great deal of her strength and stamina. And with the armor having no power she was helpless.

No, she thought as she looked up at Overkill who looked like she was preparing for another swing. I still have four hooves, two wings, and this armor's protection. I am going to do this for Twilight! With that thought in mind, Lightning summoned all of her strength to charge at Overkill as fast as she could with one hoof pulled back. If this feat shocked the bat mare at all it didn’t show on her face as Lightning quickly closed the gap between them to throw what she hoped would be a knockout punch. Seeing the attack, Overkill used the handle of her axe to deflect the punch so that Lightning’s foreleg passed her harmlessly. But that didn’t stop Lightning as she pulled her head back in order to land a headbutt so powerful that it knocked Overkill’s helmet off.

Lightning hovered there for a moment, panting heavier than ever as her eyes remained glued to the pony in front of her. It was difficult to see, but she was sure there was blood trickling down the bat mare’s face. That was a sight that brought a smile to Lightning’s face. It meant there was a good chance that Overkill had been knocked out. Yet as she noticed that Overkill’s weapon was still in hoof and her body hadn’t gone lax the smile faded.

“Oh no,” whispered Lightning just before Overkill grinned at her.

“It’s been fun,” said Overkill followed by a clicking noise. Before Lightning could even blink, Overkill kicked herself away from the pegasus mare who looked down to see a grenade right in front of her. Realizing this, Lightning flapped her wings as fast as she could to back away from it quickly while shielding her face with her forelegs.

There was a loud boom, but there was no heat nor was there any force that would send Lightning flying backwards. Slowly Lightning lowered her gauntlets to see that in front of her was a large black cloud that seemed to be expanding and little else. As she did her best to register what was going on, Overkill came flying out of the cloud with her axe poised once more to strike her down. Lightning couldn’t react fast enough and the blade hit her barrel resulting in her being sent backwards once again. Overkill never gave her a chance to right herself or anything, instead moving behind the tired pegasus and getting her into a headlock with the handle of the weapon pressed against her neck.

Slowly, the two descended towards the ground and the remaining Guards. Lightning fought tooth and nail the entire time, trying everything she could think of to escape. All the while, she kept berating herself for messing up. Of course that hadn’t been a real grenade! Who in their right mind would have brought something like that into a test like this? But in the end, when both of them touched the ground, she was surrounded and it was official: she had been captured.

About five minutes later all those who had come to watch this test walked through the hole Lightning had made. Upon seeing them, the speedy pegasus was released by her captors. Now free, Lightning hung her head in shame. She didn’t want to see the looks of disapproval on the Princess’s faces directed at Twilight. Nor did she want to look at Shiny the jerks smug face. He’d probably bring in the trash talk about how she wasn’t a good choice for this test.

“You did great out there,” said the cheerful voice of Twilight. Looking up, Lightning saw that the purple princess was next to her with a smile on her face. Seeing that brought a spark of energy back to Lightning.

“Twilight, how can you say that?” demanded Lightning as Shadow Blade landed near the two. “I lost! I was captured! I never even saw the flag! So how can you say I did great?!”

“Because this wasn’t about winning,” said Shadow as he approached the mare. After Lightning gave him a confused look, Shadow proceeded to elaborate. “Private, the whole point of this test was to see what the armor could do, how much it could take. Just by yourself you were able to down twenty nine out of forty ponies. You were able to fight off magical restraints and took several blows from one of the most insanely strong ponies we have in our ranks. All of that without any serious harm to you. In fact, I doubt there is even a scratch on the armor! It is very impressive, just like the mare who made it.”

“Th-Thank you Captain,” said Twilight as a blush which she tried to hide with a hoof. As for Lightning, she sat there as Shadow’s words sunk in. She, by herself, had taken down twenty nine ponies with this prototype armor! She had shown what this armor was capable of to some of the most important ponies in all of Equestria. Feeling much better, Lightning turned her attention towards Twilight who, to hide her still reddened face, had moved closer to the armor in order to inspect any damages to it as well as making sure Lightning wasn’t bleeding.

“Checking me out when your special some pony is around?” teased Lightning when Twilight had gotten to her flank. “Just think of the gossip!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well if you can make jokes like that then I guess you're fine,” she said. Lightning was about to reply when she spotted something right behind Twilight. She quickly nudged her friend and indicated to her that she should turn around. When Twilight did, she saw all of the royals approaching them with Princess Celestia in the lead. On instinct, Twilight bowed with Lightning following suit.

“Twilight, how many times must I remind you that that’s no longer necessary,” said Celestia in a humorous tone while Lightning and Twilight rose.

“Sorry,” said Twilight as she blushed. “Old habits.”

Celestia gave her an understanding nod. “Well, I believe congratulations are in order,” she said, her voice ringing with pride. “From what I and the others saw, your prototype is a success.”

“For the most part Princess,” agreed Twilight. “However, the power source is still an issue. Had it not run out when it did, Lightning might have made it farther than she had. She might have actually gotten the flag.”

“I have to agree with that,” said Shadow. “There is also the fact that this armor, as it is right now, is more suited towards pegasi and bat ponies. More work will be needed to make it more compatible with earth ponies as well as unicorns. Still, the defenses were above what many here would have thought possible and the weapon system was a success.”

“Let us not forget about the skills shown by Private Lightning Dust,” said Princess Luna as she eyed Lightning Dust. “If given a blade, I feel like she could have done just as well. Perhaps in the future we should give the armor to somepony who is less…talented in the air to see how they perform.”

“Princess Luna makes a good point,” agreed Cadence as she too eyed a now embarrassed Lightning Dust. “But perhaps we shouldn’t limit it to a pegasus. I would like to see how well the armor would do when used by an earth pony or a unicorn, just to see the difference. However, I believe we can all agree that we are making steps in the right direction.”

“The only reason this test went the way it did was because the pegasi got in the way of the unicorns,” said Blueblood in a snide tone. Everypony turned to look at him, his expression looking very unimpressed with what he had just seen. “I am sure if they hadn’t been there, the unicorns would have blasted that toy out of the sky.”

“With all due respect Prince Blueblood,” said Shadow Blade as he took a step forward. “As you yourself saw, the armor protects against magic. Had it been hit then there wearer would have taken no damage. The only way they could have ‘blasted that toy out of the sky’, as you put it, is if they got a lucky shot. What we are trying to do here is minimize our need of luck. The pegasi were there to surround her so she couldn’t escape as well as providing air support.”

Blueblood snorted. “As I saw it, bat pony, bring enough magic onto it and it would have been taken down,” he sneered. “It’s sad really to see the Royal Guard fail so, moving away from magic because a pea brained fool like you cannot understand or even comprehend the power of magic. What we need is to focus our efforts into strengthening our magical power and eliminating all of the trash from the Guard. Something that only a properly trained unicorn commander can do! Instead, we are being given a show by some expensive toy that will probably be of no use to us!”

“Nephew!” cried Celestia, her eyes flashing with anger at Blueblood’s words.

Shadow stepped closer to Blueblood, looking at the noble directly in the eyes as he did. The movement caused Blueblood to lift one of his hind legs to step back, but he managed to stop himself. For a moment, the two stallions seemed to have a staring contest while being so close to each other that their noses were almost touching. There was silence until Shadow broke it.

“My prince,” he began cooly. “My duty is to all of Equestria and I will do everything I can to protect it with all of those willing to do so as well. As long as I am able to, with the blessings of my princesses, I will use any and all resources I can to do so. But I will never allow any elitism within the ranks under my command. And if you think that I am failing as a Captain, then you can bring it up within court along with some hard proof.” Gritting his teeth, Blueblood looked away.

“I agree with what Captain Shadow Blade is saying,” said Shining Armor, still looking stone faced as he looked from Blueblood to Lightning Dust. “We have had too many experiences of late that have proven that we cannot rely on magic alone to help us in our hour of need. We all experienced the loss of our magic to that fiend Tirek and relying on one unicorn’s shield spell was a weakness that the Changelings exploited to great effect. If our future enemies manage to come up with ways to negate our magic or are simply more skilled at it, we will need options like this armor. Now that we have seen what that armor can do in the hooves of a less trained pony, I am curious as to its effectiveness with a more seasoned member of the Guard.”

Lightning’s smile faded and she fought the urge to tell the jerk off. Even after all this time, Shining Armor still treated her like she were a criminal. That he didn’t trust her.

“I say that Private Lightning Dust did very well with the prototype,” said Celestia before looking at Cadence and Luna. Both of the princesses nodded. “I believe we should begin talking about making more of these as well as seeing if we can’t upgrade them as well. I am sure Mr. Gigawatt will be happy to assist as well as some of the top minds in Canterlot.”

“Princess, is it wise to be acting so hastily?” asked Fancy Pants, surprising many ponies there. “While I admit that I am very impressed by what I have witnessed that doesn’t mean I don’t have my concerns. If we begin to mass produce this armor, then there is a good chance that some other nations might see this as a prelude to war rather than a response to recent attacks. They might even launch a surprise attack to catch us off guard. Not to mention if one of these armors gets into the wrong hooves. Imagine if some scoundrel used this against us. Now, please princesses, don’t take this the wrong way but I feel like we should have plans in place before we begin to make more of these.”

Celestia nodded. “You bring up some good points,” she agreed. “We should make this the topic of court tomorrow and begin working out the details. Perhaps, in the meantime, we can make armors for a select number of ponies who we trust. It will at least make it easier to keep track of them all.”

“Splendid idea,” agreed Fancy Pants.

“And I believe that Lightning Dust here should keep hers,” said Cadence, much to the shock of her husband.

“Cadence, I think-” began Shining Armor.

“I trust Twilight’s judgment, as should you,” said Cadence sternly. “And it would be wrong to deprive her protector of such equipment that she is obliviously skilled with. As the former Captain of the Royal Guard, do you not agree?”

“I,” began Shining, but paused. Looking at his face, Lightning was sure he was mulling over what he should say. Then, finally, he took a deep breath before speaking again. “Yes, you are correct that she is skilled with the prototype and there is no reason to deprive it from her at this time.”

“Very good,” said Luna before she turned to leave. “I believe we should be leaving now. There is still much we all have to do today.”

Celestia nodded. “Agreed. We will pick this up tomorrow.” She then turned to Twilight and Lightning. “You two have done excellent work. Now, take some time off. You both deserve it.” With that, she and the other nobles departed from the field.

Enter Lightning Dust

Lightning Dust let out a growl of annoyance as she paced back and forth in her crystal cell. The walls, floor, ceiling, bars, and yes even the bed were all made of crystal. Some part of her knew she shouldn’t have been surprised by this since she was in the Crystal Empire where everything was made out of the stuff. But the bed?!? Hadn’t these crystal ponies ever heard of mattresses or did criminals here not receive that luxury? If the latter was the case they could at least put some straw on the bed to make it more comfortable.

“No,” growled Lightning Dust aloud as she shot a death glare at the bed. “That might offset the theme of this place. Can’t have that, can we? Everything has to be made out of these dumb crystals!” With that, Lightning bucked the bars of her cell with her hind legs in an attempt to vent her frustration. The bars not only remained strong, but the impact caused Lighting to let out a yelp of pain.

Wincing from the pain, she slowly turned her head to look at the single door that led out of the dungeons. Hopefully soon that dumb unicorn who brought her here would return and tell her what she did wrong to be thrown in here. She hadn’t done anything wrong…recently. At least nothing bad enough to get put in a dungeon without any real beds!

Lightning could remember a time when her life looked like everything was going great. She had a really sweet job and was on the road to being accepted into the Wonderbolts! For a pegasus like her, becoming a member of their team would be a dream come true. She had even believed she had made a friend, one that understood her like nopony had before.

As she remembered Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust let out a snort. Rainbow Dash turned against her, complaining about how some ponies could have gotten hurt because of a tornado they had whipped up to get rid of some clouds in record time. It wasn’t her fault they had been in an area they shouldn’t have been in! But no, Rainbow Dash had to make a big scene about it before running off to see the Captain. Shortly after that, Spitfire, who had done nothing but praise Lightning for how much she pushed herself, kicked her out of the Academy like she was nothing!

After that, her life had never been the same. Shortly after she had returned home, she was called into her boss’s office and told that there was a problem with her behavior. That she was getting more than a few complaints about her yelling at other weather ponies, shoving them out of the way so she could get the job done faster, and other such things. She even had the nerve to suggest that Lightning go to an anger management class, or take some time off to deal with her issues. Growling, Lightning had told her right then and there that it was everypony else who was at fault before screaming that she quit. The next day, Lightning had then set out trying to find a new job which proved to be more difficult. Many of the other places that offered high paying jobs were rather quick to close the door on her. Even the Royal Guard refused to allow her to join their ranks. The Royal Bucking Guard who did nothing but stand around doing nothing most of the day refused to allow an awesome, motivated pony like her to join their ranks.

Lightning Dust knew there had to be somepony behind all of this. If she had to guess, it was most likely either Spitfire or Rainbow Dash. Maybe even her old boss as well. Anyone of them could have sent out word that they ‘disapproved’ of her or some bull like that with the intent of further punishing her. Well, Lightning Dust was not going to let them win no matter what!

With the only places willing to hire her being low wage positions and the possibility of her losing her home becoming more real with each passing day, Lightning knew she had to make a choice. Thanks to Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, she couldn’t stay here. She knew that. So she sold her home and decided to hit the road hoping that she could find another good job in other places in Equestria. And maybe get some root beer or hard cider along the way to help her forget her troubles.

That was what had brought her to the Empire. Lightning had thought that they might be in need of some weather ponies or something that would require her amazing aerial skills. But, several days after arriving, no new opportunities had presented themselves to her. But that was fine. She had found a nice cloud to sleep on right above the city that would keep her warm as well as safe and had found several decent drinking holes that she was rotating in-between so her tab wouldn’t sky rocket at one too quickly.

Soon after, story of her life, things took a turn for the worst. Lightning Dust was sitting in one of the better holes she had found, downing the last of her fifth root beer float, when the doors burst open. Several ponies entered led by a real jerk of a unicorn who told Lightning to come with him. Naturally, Lightning had told him where to shove it and tried to escape. It should have been an easy task for her to fly away at super speed, moving faster than they could blink. Yet the unicorn managed to lock her inside a magical bubble before telling her she was under arrest.

And now, here she was in a cell all by herself.

“Jerk cheated anyhow,” muttered Lightning in her cell as she thought of him. “Dumb, stupid unicorns and their dumb, stupid magic.”

Just then, Lightning heard a noise that caused her ears to twitch. She got up and looked down the hallway to see that the doors leading out of this place had opened. Walking in the hallway towards her cell was the dumb, stupid unicorn who had caught her. There was a sour look on his face, something that pleased Lightning, as he brought another pony with him. It was a mare that looked somewhat familiar to Lightning, however she couldn’t place her.

Before they got close enough, Lightning saw the white jerk hold out his hoof in front of the mare to stop her. Said mare turned her head to give the jerk an annoyed look.

“Twily, I really think you should reconsider,” said the jerk as he looked down at ‘Twily’. “I know you think you know this mare, but she has trouble written all over her records. She’s wanted in Trottingham, Manehatten, and-”

“Those are minor charges,” replied Twily in a tired, strained voice. “Shiny, I know this mare. I know that she’s a good pony deep down. And you’ll see it once she enlists in this project I’m working on.”

Shiny the jerk snorted at this. “Twily, I know that you ‘think’ you know this mare,” he said before giving the stink eye in the direction of Lightning’s cell. “But you have to understand that this mare is different than the one you knew. They aren’t the same! Even if she agrees to do this, I’m willing to bet the moment your back is turned she’ll run off with your project so she can sell it. Then she’ll spend the bits she gets buying drinks so she can drown away her misery.” Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but the jerk held up a hoof. “Just, please think about this some more. Sleep on it for a day or two. I have plenty of ponies under my command who would give up both the forelegs to work on this. Ponies with real military training who would be far better suited than this loser is.”

Anger gripped Lightning. “Hey, who are you calling a loser?!” she screamed into the hallway. As she breathed heavily, Lightning managed to hear the jerk sigh loudly before the sounds of hoofsteps filled the hallway. And, a few moments later, Lightning was face to face with both of them.

Once they were in front of her cell, Lightning was better able to get a good look at them. Shiny the jerk looked like your average unicorn. Not much had changed about him since she had first seen him. Still, it lightened up Lightning’s mood a bit to see that sour expression a bit closer. But when she went to look at Twily, she nearly did a double take. When she had first seen her, she could only make out the horn. Now, however, that she was closer, Lightning could clearly see a set of wings on her as well. That made her an alicorn! Which meant that she-

“Hello, Lightning Dust,” said the alicorn brightly. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” corrected Shiny the jerk.

Twilight gave him an annoyed look while seeming to fight the urge to roll her eyes. “Thank you Captain Shining Armor,” she said through gritted teeth. Twilight then took a deep breath before looking at Lightning, looking much calmer again. More composed as she looked to face Lightning. “I’m so sorry about this. I had put out a request looking for you a couple of days ago, but I never expected this to happen. When I heard you had been seen in the Crystal Empire, I asked my brother to invite you to stay in the castle until I arrived.”

Shining Armor seemed to have no problem rolling his eyes at this. “Standing warrants,” he said, like that was all the justification he needed. “Besides, she tried to run before we could explain anything. My hooves were tied. But hay, I at least brought her to the castle.”

“Gee, thanks,” said Lightning in a deadpanned tone with a look to match. She then looked at Twilight. “So, why were you looking for me?”

Twilight grinned. “I’d like to hire you to be my personal guard.”

The words struck Lightning like, well, a bolt of lightning. She fell back on her plot while her mouth was hanging open. Did she hear right? The newest princess in Equestria wanted her to be a personal bodyguard!? The Royal Guard had refused to even allow her to fill out the paperwork to get into boot camp!

Lightning quickly shook her head and stood up. “Ok, I know I’m really awesome and all but why would you want to hire me to do something like that when you have maybe thousands of ponies who just stand around all day begging for something like this?” She shot a looking at Shining and smirked. “Is it because they’re so useless you feel safer having me protect you? Maybe there’s some truth to the rumor that a single unicorn managed to slip past the so called ‘elite’ and snuck into your room. And to think that the crowned prince of the Empire used to be a Captain.”

Lightning watched with great satisfaction as Shining Armor began to lose it. His white coat was quickly turning red while his mane began to bristle. There were even small sparks dancing around his horn as his eyes narrowed at her in a dangerous fashion. It was so…sad that she could get under this stallion’s coat so easily.

The princess, on the other hoof, was a different story. At first her eyes widened like she was in shock. Then, however, she placed a hoof on her chest before making a sweeping motion with it while at the same time exhaling. After she did this, she looked a bit calmer.

“I see word of what happened during the Princess Summit has spread,” said Twilight after a moment, her voice sounding clear and in control. It almost sounded like this was no big deal to her or anything to worry about. And maybe it wasn’t, but still hearing this caused Lightning to stare at her in surprise again.

“Th-That really happened?!” Lightning shouted as she stood up. “I thought that it was a rumor, like something that came from a disgruntled guard or some guard trying to make up a story so that his job wouldn’t sound so boring.” Her eyes widened a bit. “I also heard that the princess that she stole the crown from woke up, panicked, and blasted her through like fifteen walls. Is that true too?”

Twilight began to blush heavily. “It was only five walls,” she muttered. As Lightning began to sit back down, her jaw hanging loosely as she stared at the princess, Twilight continued to speak quickly. “I, er, sort of confused her with, ah, another mare that I had a run in before. I thought that she was trying to get revenge like when she came after my daught- I MEAN SCOOTALOO!” Lightning flinched in surprise at sudden outburst.

She watched as Shining gave his red faced sister a nudge. “Sorry,” she said before taking another calming breath. “Well, that unfortunate event is sort of the reason why you are here. After we captured Sunset Shimmer, the mare who tried to steal my crown, and sent her to Canterlot, the topics of the Princess Summit were shifted towards security. In the last thousand years, serious threats have been few and far between which we believe that has allowed the Royal Guard to become a bit more lax.” At that point, Shining gave a bit of a grunt before he looked the other way. There was a pained look on his face, one that Lightning took as ‘they think this is my fault’ or perhaps something similar. “Now, however, it has become clear that the threat level has changed. In the last year alone we have faced Nightmare Moon, Discord, a changeling army along with its queen, and the return of King Sombra. And those were only the major threats! We all realized that when Sunset Shimmer almost stole my crown, we could have lost Equestria’s greatest weapon against such powerful threats. If this had happened, I fear that those foes who have not yet surfaced would make their move sooner.

“When the Summit concluded,” continued Twilight, “each princess vowed to make an effort on their end to improve the Royal Guard. This has been made even more important since we had to return the Elements of Harmony to their source. Both Princesses Celestia and Luna have vowed to work with Captain Shadow Blade to improve the training regimen as well as reaching out to various other races in the hopes of seeking alliances. In fact, right now Princess Luna with speaking to the griffin emperor in the hopes of forging stronger ties while Princess Celestia holds down the fort. Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor are also doing their best to improve the Crystal Guard while searching the library for spells that have been lost to time in the hopes that they could be of some use.”

“We are also making a detailed list of various evil creatures that have been sealed away,” added Shining Armor. “If one thing has been made clear, a seal or banishment will eventually end. And when it does, whoever it was meant to lock up will return to committing acts of aggression against Equestria and its allies.”

Lightning Dust nodded slightly. “Ok, that sounds wonderful and all,” she said slowly. “But where do I come in?”

“That is where I come in,” began Twilight. “You see, my part in this is to improve upon the armor of the Guard. I had an adventure not too long ago where I became somewhat familiar with some advanced technology. While I am not able to perfectly reproduce what I saw there, I believe that in time I will be able to make something similar using what technology we do have while adding in some magical additions that will allow it to function like the original.” Lightning then became aware of a sudden intense focus directed towards her. “I have a majority of the equipment that I will need to begin, however I have yet to find a pony who I believe can bring out its true potential. I had thought for somepony like Captain Shadow Blade whose special talent is combat, however that can not be possible because he is needed in Canterlot. While many of my friends suggested I look into the Royal Guard like Prince Shining Armor here, I realized that there was a mare out there that I knew without a doubt could do this. So, sent the word out to look for her so I could ask her face to face. I only wish I could have done it without the bars between us.”

Lightning Dust stared at Twilight for several moments as she processed what she was hearing, what she was being offered. On one hoof, it sounded like she would be helping to work on something that would help change the future. She might even go down in history books or have something named after her! And didn’t certain member of the Royal Guard get extra perks? Maybe she could get some authority over Spitfire or something! On the other hoof…

“Ok, this job sounds wonderful and all,” said Lightning Dust as she looked the purple princess in the eye. “But you still haven’t told me why you want me! In mean, there are plenty of guards that would jump for a chance like this and you wouldn’t need to search for them. Are you interested in me because I’m disposable? A lab rat that can be easily replaced if something goes wrong?” Lightning Dust had done her very best to keep her voice somewhat calm. However, it had raised bit by bit as she spoke and almost ended with a scream. Still, at the very least, she didn’t raise a hoof to point at the princess. She felt certain that, if she had, Shiny the jerk would have acted.

At first, Twilight’s eyes seemed to widen by the accusation. It took Lightning back a bit, as if she had pointed out something that the high and mighty princess hadn’t thought of. Or, perhaps, she didn’t expect Lightning to figure it out. But, when Twilight spoke next, her words were calm and collected.

“Lightning Dust, I want you for this job because I know that you are up for this challenge. You’re not the kind of mare who will not give this your all. Once we begin, neither one of us will be backing out of this until the end. Even if we have to back to the drawing board a hundred times, you won’t lose your motivation to try it again and again. What’s more, I know you are a mare who will go above and beyond to protect those you care about. There is not a doubt in my mind that you would be willing to make any sacrifice when it comes to those that matter to you. And that is somepony I want working on this with me as well as becoming my protector.”

Now it was Lightning’s turn to look shocked. This…hadn’t been what she had expected to hear at all. Part of her believed that Twilight would have given her some big speech about how she should use her talents to better serve Equestria or something like that. But this felt too sweet, too from the heart to be faked. That or Twilight was one heck of an on the spot actress.

“Wow,” was all Lightning Dust could say at first as she looked down at the ground while scratching the back of her head. “That’s one heck of a sales pitch. Really don’t know what to say to that.” There was a short pause before she looked up into Twilight’s hopeful eyes. “So, ah, if I say yes, what happens next?”

“Well,” began a smiling Twilight. “First, clearing your criminal record. Before I came down here I sent a letter to Princess Celestia explaining your situation. I won’t lie and say that her letter back didn’t suggest any misgiving about this, but she is willing to trust in my judgment. If you agree, the crown is willing to wipe your slate clean as long as you consent to having a portion of your paycheck go towards paying off your debt. After that, you will be assisting me in building the armor and helping to test its various new features. After that is done, we will move onto your training followed by you acting as my personal protector when needed. Maybe testing upgrades and new models from time to time as well.”

“You should also know that we will be keeping an eye on you,” added Shining Armor while Twilight shot him a glare. He, however, seemed to ignore this as he kept his focus on Lightning. “If we suspect that you are not taking this seriously, hurt Princess Twilight in any way, or try to skip town then the deal is off. You will be brought to the nearest dungeon and kept there until your trial.”

“Gee, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine,” muttered Lightning as she shot Shining a glare back. She then turned to look at Twilight. “And I guess if I say no then I’m stuck here in this cell?”

Twilight sadly nodded. “I’m afraid there is nothing I can do about that,” she replied. “But, even if you say no now, I will leave the deal on the table. All you need to do is say the word.”

“Right,” said Lightning before letting out a deep sigh. She looked around her cell once again while thinking up a few more questions. “So, umm, if I take this job will I have to answer to him?” As she said this, Lightning pointed a hoof at Shining Armor.

Twilight shook her head and let out a small smile. “You are going to be my personal guard and, as such, you will take orders from me alone,” she explained while Shining snorted. “The only exception will be if we are separated and there is an emergency. If that happens, you will have to obey the highest ranking pony in the room. Most likely, that will be Princess Celestia or Princess Luna since they live the closest to Ponyville.”

“I can live with that,” said Lightning, happy to hear that as well as the look on Shining’s face. It was priceless! “Ok, one more question: do you have beds that aren’t made of dumb crystal?”

-x-

“Well here we are,” said Princess Twilight as she led Lightning Dust into the library. Slowly, Lightning entered the book filled room with a look of utter confusion on her face. When she had taken up this job she had assumed she would, at the very least, be living in a comfortable home. Not a freaking public library!

Of course, this was not the only thing that had confused the pegasus since taking this job. The biggest bit of confusion came from the first mare she had seen upon arriving at this small town: Pinkie Pie. When Pinkie had met her, the pink mare looked like she was about to cry before hugging her tightly. Her mood shifted after that, remembering how she had been the one to think up the idea of the tornado that had almost killed several ponies. Pinkie then began to talk a mile a minute, with Lightning Dust only catching bit like ‘giving up her live’, ‘all is forgiven’, and ending with ‘party’. As Lightning looked utterly lost, Pinkie just seemed to grin madly in a way that didn’t seem physically possible before literally vanishing.

While the rest of Twilight’s friends were more normal, Lightning still felt a bit confused by their reactions to her. Most of them seemed to do a double take upon seeing her before acting…friendly. Lightning had expected to accuse her, not greet her by saying ‘nice to see you again’ in a way that sounded like they really meant it! None of them brought up what had happened at the Academy, not even Rainbow Dash who seemed happy to see her despite how their last encounter had ended. All Rainbow wanted to know was if they could have another race again. This was just…unnerving.

The only one who acted somewhat like she expected was Spike, Princess Twilight’s dragon pet or whatever. When they were first introduced, he just crossed his arms before giving her the once over with his eyes. It was clear that he wasn’t excited that Twilight had brought her, but still accepted it. No doubt the princess and him had had a conversation before she had gone to the Empire. Still, at least he wasn’t acting like she had come back from the dead or anything like that.

“This is the main room,” said Twilight after Lightning had closed the door behind her. She then pointed to an upstairs section. “Upstairs is where we’ll all be sleeping. And over there is the kitchen where-”

“Wait, hold on,” said Lightning Dust, interrupting Twilight. “This…This can’t be right. You are a freaking princess! And you live here?!”

“Well it is my home,” replied Twilight as she lifted an eyebrow.

“Hasn’t anypony even offered to build you a castle or a mansion?” asked Lightning only to find Twilight shaking her head no. This caused the pegasus to blink. “Wow, you really got gypped. Feels like they made you a princess instead of giving you an awards ceremony or a big pile of bits for all the times you saved Equestria.” She then gave Twilight a deadpanned expression. “Please tell me they at least gave you a fancy title like the Princess of Kicking Bad-Guys Flanks?”

“Ah,” said Twilight as her face turned red and she looked away. “No, nothing at all. Just wings and the title of Princess.” For a moment, nopony or dragon spoke a word nor did they make any movement. Finally, Twilight broke the silence with a cough. “So how about I show you where most of our work will be done?”

“I guess,” said Lightning, hoping that Princess Celestia at least gave Twilight a real lab or something to work with.

As she was lead down to the basement, however, her hopes were dashed. The room she saw looked more like a pit dug under the roots of the tree library above them. Shelves had been attached to the dirt walls containing items that Lightning had no idea what they were used for. There was also a large workbench pressed against the wall cluttered with what appeared to be junk. There were several rolled up scrolls as well as a dozen or so cylindrical metal thingies sprawled out across its surface.

Several machines seemed to take up the majority of the room. One of them looked like one of those salon chairs with the bowl above it to do…something. Lightning had no clue what they did since she had never been in one and always thought they looked silly. On the back of the chair was some kind of control panel that had several blinking lights as well as a thin slot that might possibly shoot out paper. This was Lightning’s best guess and she felt pretty sure about it seeing that there was a large bin of paper next to the device. Another machine looked like a large, round waffle iron big enough for a pony to stand on it. Finally, the last thing she saw was a large, square machine that almost touched the ceiling…and looked almost rusted up.

Beyond that, the floor was cluttered with bits of metal which the princess was only now picking up and stacking with her magic. As Lightning rolled her eyes at all this, she began to wonder what the princesses were thinking. She was sure they had a big enough budget to afford to get Twilight the best, top of the line machines or they could simply rent out a better facility for her to work. After all, hadn’t Twilight explained in pony the importance of all of this?

“Sorry about all this,” said Twilight, snapping Lightning out of her thoughts. It looked like Twilight had somehow been able to read Lightning’s thoughts (or, more likely, read the look on her face) for she gave the pegasus an apologetic smile. “There are a lot of changes going on across Equestria and there simply aren’t enough bits to fund every project. Especially for something that even I admitted might not be completed for some time. Many of the nobles also don’t want to donate any bits to this project, claiming it to be the work of fiction rather than science. Sooo, I have had to make do with what I can get my hooves on. Some of these machines are hoof-made while others are third hoofed.”

As Lightning gave a short nod, she noticed something else was in the room: a mirror. Around it were wires and tubes which were connected to a half finished machine of some kind. It seemed odd that Twilight would have a mirror down here, let alone such an old looking one. Was she planning on turning it into some sort of detection device?

“Well then,” said Twilight, snapping Lightning out of her musing as the purple mare brought her hooves together loudly and began rubbing them together. “Since we’re here, we might as well get started!”

“Ah, ok,” said Lightning.

“Great!” cried a clearly excited Twilight as she gestured to the chair. “Just sit right there and don’t worry. All I’m going to do tonight is map out your brain waves before we get started on the real work tomorrow.”

Shrugging, Lightning moved over to the chair and sat down. As soon as she did the bowl above her came down, pressing her mane against her skull a bit harder than she would have liked. But Lightning didn’t complain beyond letting out a sound of annoyance as Twilight walked over to a device that began spitting out paper with wavy lines on it. After a minute or two of silence, Twilight staring at the paper with a gleeful smile, Lightning began to wonder if all the tests would be this boring. Only time would tell.