Chapter 12: The Truth is Revealed.

Chapter 12: The Truth is Revealed.

"W-What are we going to do…?!" Fluttershy whimpered.

Sunset whispered. "I-I don't know!"

"Me neither…! I don't have my blaster to fight back with!" Lightning stuttered.

"Should we use our powers…? They know about them already, don't they?" Rainbow suggested.

"They'll see us and shoot if we try to use them." Twilight whispered.

"Just...stay calm…"

~Lightning backs herself and the others into a corner with nowhere to go. She couldn't think of anything to get them out of this so she was upset and stressed out. But, also wrong. A green laser appears out of nowhere and blasts one of the guys in the chest. He clutches his chest and everyone turns in the direction it came from. A figure stood in the shadows armed with a blaster and once they stepped forwards into the light, Lightning gasps in relief and exclaims.~

"Karly?!"

The Mane 7 gasp.

"Please step away from my best friends, I repeat, please step away." Karly smiled politely.

~The three men stupidly glare at each other in confusion for two seconds until Karly shoots her blaster again and the laser grazes the second man's arm.~

"I SAID STEP AWAY!" Karly yelled angrily.

The Flunkies freak out. "...Stand down. Let's move."

~The three men flee the scene and the girls sigh in relief. Lightning was very happy to see Karly and she was happy to see her so they ran to each other and warmly embraced each other.~

"Oh, I am so glad that is over. For a second there, I thought I was going to have to...shoot somebody…" Karly said, holding her hands up.

"Hate to break it to ya, Karly, but you did." Lightning replied in confusion.

"I did, didn't I?"

~Lightning and Karly both chuckle before hugging once again. The Rainbooms calm down from what just happened and also smile at Lightning and Karly. Rarity then steps forward to give something special to Karly.~

"Oh, Karly, we are so glad you're safe! Oh! We found your geode on the ground too somewhere." Rarity hands Karly her geode and she puts it on her neck again.

"Oh, thanks. Oh, I was so afraid I had lost it trying to find my way back here." Karly smiled.

"How did you find your way back here? We expected the worse happened to you…!" Lightning stated, placing her hands on Karly's shoulders.

"Well, I last thing I remember was taking a hit to the head by some bricks that…"

"Oh, Karly…" Lightning suddenly interrupted Karly to hug her. "Just...That's...That's my fault. If I hadn't raced out of the hideout to the construction site…"

"Its ok, Lightning. I'm ok, you're ok. Just let bygones be bygones...But, yeah, I got hit in the head with a bunch of bricks, then I woke up in the forest without feeling any injuries strangely...but I didn't know where I was, it took me hours to navigate the way home...I was so frightened." Karly then turned to the rest. “How did I even get there?"

“Stitch carried you into that forest.” Fluttershy said.

“And cured you with Wuloric berries.” Twilight added.

Karly looked confused. “Who's Stitch?”

“My new dog! Stitch…?” Lightning was about to introduce Karly to Stitch but then realised. “Oh no, Stitch! He was taken! Along with Spike!”

“Oh yeah! We gotta get them back!” Rainbow declared.

“Let's go then!” Lightning gestured.

~Lightning and the Rainbooms started to leave to find Stitch and Spike. However, Karly was still standing there, confused. She called out to Lightning who immediately stopped.~

“Wait a minute, Lightning. This 'Stitch' dog you speak of...Is that the dog you thought you saw sneak into the hideout?” Karly asked.

“Yes! It was a dog the whole time! Now we have to help him!” Lightning determined.

“Wait a minute!” Karly began to glare. “Fluttershy said it dragged me into that forest, miles from home. Why?”

“I...I don't know about that. Maybe because he wanted to help you cause he felt bad about you hurting yourself.”

“Are you serious, it stole me…?” Karly argued.

“To help you…”Lightning retaliated.

“How far did he take me…?”

“24 hours away from the city…” Rarity answered. “I know, I am shocked too!”

“We all were.” Sunset said.

Karly looked skeptical. “I honestly don't think I want to help.”

“What?! Why?” Lightning asked.

“It dragged me away, far from home. Without any source of help or phone service! I was alone in the wild for 2 days because of that thing. I would go and help you if it was only Spike in danger, but Spike and that other dog, Stitch, was it? I’ll see you back at the hideout, Lightning.”

~Karly started to walk away towards the city and Lightning tried to persuade her to stop and hear her out.~

“What? Karly, no, wait! I know it seems bad, I was thinking the same thing too, but...he healed your injuries. We have bonded over the days trying to find you. He helped us and you, now he’s in trouble. We have to help him. Karly, stop! Stop!” Lightning began to shout.

Karly paused and turned to Lightning. “He didn’t help me at all. The only thing he did was pull me into a scary adventure back home by myself. I hate doing things by myself. He might have healed me, but he didn’t help me find a way back home.”

“He was about to!” Lightning responded angrily. “But you had woken up and left. He did help you, you help him! He actually said to me, ‘The beauty of helping people is that they’ll help you back!’"

“Really? Then how come your sister helped you escape, but you Didn’t help her when she was MURDERED???!!!”

Lightning froze.

~The guitar strings had broken. The Rainbooms' eyes grew and they turned to Lightning completely flustered. Fluttershy covered her mouth with her hands and Pinkie's jaw hit the floor.~

Lightning slowly turned and glared at her partner. “Why would you bring THAT up?!” She whispered.

Karly realised what she just said and already regretted it. “Oh, shoot. Oh, no. I’m--” She sighed. “The jig is up, Lightning. You better tell the Rainbooms everything now…”

“Wh-What is she talking about?” Fluttershy stammered.

Lightning takes a deep breath. “Ok, Rainbooms, sit down. You're in for the truth now.”

~Karly sits down first and stares at the floor in shame. The Rainbooms eventually join her, ready for the truth to be told to them.~

“Ok. Wait here.”

~Lightning stumbles into some nearby trees and picks a few things up from the floor. She returns holding four sticks. One of them was big, two of them were medium and the fourth one was short. Lightning sits down to complete the circle the girls made and began to place the sticks in the dirt, just like what Stitch did to resemble his family.~

“Remember this, Rainbooms?” Lightning asked.

They all nod.

“The biggest stick resembles my dad. The medium sticks are my mum and my sister, and the small one...well, take your pick to who it is.” She points to herself in an obvious gesture.

“Hmm…” Karly began to breathe heavily.

“So...what happened, Lightning, darling?” Rarity softly asked for the last time.

Lightning sighed and started. “So, Me and my family live on the edge. But...the edge might have crumbled and…”

~Lightning places her hands on both of the medium sticks and pushes them to the ground. Then, she softly buries them in the mud before shedding a tear.~

“It was 12 years ago…”

~Song: Total Eclipse of the Heart- (Bonnie Tyler)~

~A flashback forms into Lightning's head and it shows herself as a 4-year old girl, plus another girl was also with her, who looked to be 8 years old. The 8-year-old was holding young Lightning's hand firmly as they ran for their lives. Something was lurking in the shadows with a toothy grin and it was violently chasing the young children through a narrow, small hallway.~

"Me and my sister were in grave danger." Lightning narrated. " We had been taken by my dad's arch-enemy and we were just making our escape. Our dad did make sure we knew all of his secret agent skills to protect ourselves, but my sister never understood them. She was not a good agent. And I was only 4. I hadn't learnt the skills yet."

~Lightning's sister suddenly trips over and little Lightning went to help her, but by then the shadow had caught up with them. It saw that the sister had no special skills, so it was disappointed. The girls both got up and continued to run, but then Lightning's sister pushes Lightning under a small vent she could easily fit through, but the sister couldn't fit so she turned back to escape another way, but the shadow was there towering over her. Lightning hid in the vents and saw the murder happen with her own eyes. The shadow had slashed Lightning's sister with some sort of blade and she fell to the floor, not moving. 4-year-old Lightning's eyes flashed with trauma but then the shadow turned to the vents and sticks the blade in there. The blade touches Lightning's cheek and slices it. She jolts back and tumbles through the vents as the blade was being waved around. She crawls and reaches the end and outside the building where she was held in, she gets out of the vent and falls to the floor. Suddenly, a car pulled up where she was and a man and woman crawled out of it, Lightning's parents. They go over to the sad Lightning and she fumbles over and begins to cry.~

"The villain had slashed my sister's stomach open and killed her. Then he slashed my cheek and that's how I got this scar. I barely escaped and broke down in front of my parents when they arrived. I was traumatised. But that wasn't the end…"

~Back at their house, young Lightning was still crying and was sitting and staring out of the window while the parents chatted and argued about what happened. Both were also heart-broken and the mother never stopped crying about it. The mother then raced upstairs while the father comforted Lightning. Suddenly they heard a gunshot from upstairs and the father went to check it out. He finds a gun lying on the bed and a body. Little Lightning looked up then turned back out the window as the Flashback ended. Present Lightning stared at the Rainbooms with tears forming in her eyes.~

"My mother couldn't bear to live without one of her daughters, so she...disappeared, only leaving me and my father left in the world." Lightning finished.

Lightning sniffed and quivered her lip.

~The Rainbooms looked at Lightning and Karly in sympathy. Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie started to cry too and they all huddled around Lightning to give her a big hug as she sobbed. Soon enough, Twilight, Rainbow and Applejack joined in on the hug too until Lightning's tears soaked the Mane 6's shirts.~

"I'm really sorry, Lightning. I had no idea. I just assumed you had a terrible family and a bad relationship with them…" Sunset softly said, feeling really bad.

"Oh, no...It was the opposite of that. My parents and my sister loved me with all of their hearts. At least, that's what my dad and I thought my mother said." Lightning cried, still hugging the ones around her.

"Oh, I'm truly sorry I brought that up, Lightning. Of course, you couldn't help your sister, you were only 4 years old…" Karly rubbed in between her eyes.

"Its ok, Karly. You just weren't thinking straight."

"We're all so sorry about your past, Lightning." Fluttershy whimpered. "Yo-Your dad is still alive though, isn't he?"

"Yes. He's been taking good care of me ever since." Lightning softly answered.

"I can't believe that happened to you! How could that ruffian, that brute kill your sister!? She was only a child!" Rarity exclaimed.

"I Know! 8-8-8 years old!" Lightning cried louder.

"Now, now, y'all. Let's not keep goin' on about it. Lightnin' seems way too upset to go on." Applejack stated sadly.

"Yeah, she's soaked my jacket with her crying!" Rainbow picked up her jacket and started to shake it.

"Oh, sorry…" Lightning sniffed and rubbed her nose.

Twilight smiled a little. "It's ok...You just needed to let it all out…"

"Yeah…"

~Everyone dismantles from the hug, except for Pinkie. She was squeezing Lightning and didn't want to let go. Eventually, she did when she realised everyone else had let go.~

"Its ok, Pinkie. I'm ok, now."

She sniffs rather loudly. "It's just heartbreaking when someone you love is gone!"

"I know...That's-Thats why we must go after Stitch!"

"And Spike. They need us!" Twilight declared.

"I...feel like Stitch is now part of my family. I blamed him for what happened to you, Karly, but it wasn't his fault...he was only trying to help. So, we gotta go and help him...because...I-I-I love him...He's my pet. And he loves me.

Karly looked at Lightning in silence.

"I always knew you would become attached to him…" Fluttershy smugged.

"Let's go and find that 'Little thing' then!" Karly grinned.

Lightning's eyes clear up and she smiles.