Arcana's Wrath

by oop

Chapter 9: Reuinion

Author's Note:

Blippity blop, alright, this chapter is going up a day early because I actually got the whole thing done tuesday, and I'm going to be incredibly busy all weekend. So there you go guys, a boon, you won't wait in suspense for the reunion any longer than you have to... but you have to wait an extra set of hours for the next bit. Have at it, dont hurt yourselves.

The flashbulb memory was still not quite there. When Lightning turned to see who had spoken she didn’t have any immediate recollection of the voice. In fact, the badly burnt Pegasus who was standing at the ladder wasn’t immediately recognized. How had this pony gotten her name? Was he with party planning?

Shadow was just as confused as she was the single spoken word a question in itself. The blue and red stirred something in the back of his mind, but she looked almost nothing like the filly he remembered. This girl was taller, had longer hair, and was more nimble than muscular. The word had come to his mind unconsciously and fluttered out of his mouth before he could catch it, an apology for the mistaken name already on his lips…

And then their eyes met, the green and the red saw one another and saw familiarity. The pain, the adventure, the life was all still in those eyes, shining like sunlight reflecting one another, full of familiarity. The smile happened together, but in Shadow the tears came first. Lightning had no such spill as she launched herself forward, almost toppling the Pegasus in a desperate hug.

“Huh…?” said Charm, eyeing the sudden and seemingly random exchange.

Shadow finished the words “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, holding back a choke “Your brother… he said?”

“He’s got no idea,” said Lightning, pulling away and locking eyes with him again “I came here with my music teacher, one in a million opportunity…” she trailed away, pressing her hooves over Shadow’s coat, confirming his realism in the few remaining bolts of soft grey.

“That’s amazing…” he said, bringing a hoof up to wipe his eyes, reluctant to show weakness despite the tender moment “God… how long has I been?”

They finally pulled away, and another fact came to light, a fact that left Lightning gleeful and Shadow in stunned fury.

“I’m taller than you.” Said Lightning, her smile turning into more of a smirk.

“By like an inch!” Shadow exclaimed, his wings flaring to make himself look bigger, which worked “You’re kidding, you’ve got to be kidding!”

“Little Shadow!” Lightning had clearly only just begun, enveloping him in her grasp again and rubbing his hair in a sharp noogie “Hey does that make you the honorary little brother or whatever?" Do you remember that?”

“Get off!” Shadow’s voice cracked as he struggled, and to his great surprise, broke free of her grip “I’ll tell the guards you held a duke hostage if you aren’t careful.”

“Duke, huh?” said Lightning, backing off a tiny bit “I thought they always introduced you as the honorary prince?”

“That’s what a duke is?” said Shadow “Like, Cadence would be next on the throne, since she’s Celestia’s,” the next word was lost to the sound of a toaster oven going off somewhere in the castle “But because she has the crystal honor Luna would take her place, but she’s not a descendent, she’s the sister, so she’s a duchess, grand duchess because she’s next in line, making her heir, me, a duke.”

Lightning tilted her head “Here’s what I heard, ‘Blah, blah, blah, royalty shmolalty, duke!” she giggled “Not that I care, aren’t they like immortal anyway? So why does it matter?”

“Well, I never thought about that…” said Shadow, feeling suddenly insignificant.

“Look,” Charm’s voice came up behind the two “You obviously have got lots of catching up to do, but could someone let me know what’s going on?”

“We’re old friends,” Lightning and Shadow spoke in unison, then glared at each other for it.

“Right, well that’s great and all, but we were kind of having a talk,” said Charm “And it’s rude enough for you to barge in on it in the first place, no ‘excuse’ me or anything, and for another you look like kind of a mess.” Her eyes narrowed in disdain “Just, why are you here, and can you make it quick?”

Shadow felt a nerve go off, he wasn’t a fan of that attitude. “Same as you I’m guessing, I need to find some info. But I think seeing an old friend is worth not finding it for a few minutes, don’t you think?”

“Right,” said Charm “Well how about you tell me what you’re after and I’ll go get it for you while you two are figuring each other out.”

“The great cape.” Said Shadow, squinting at her “I kind of need to know what- err, where it is.”

“Have you looked at a map recently?” Charm mumbled “Give me a minute, I’ll go get it.”

As Charm trotted towards the downward ladder Lightning turned back to Shadow “What’s the Great Cape?” she asked “are you making some kind of diplomatic mission there or something?”

“Not exactly,” said Shadow, casting for a change of subject “So you’re some kind of big-shot now right? Your cool talent is some sort of rare thing everyone wants to see right?”

To Shadow’s relief, Lightning latched on to the distraction “Oh my god, you have no idea,” she said “It’s the historical ponies society or whatever who’s the biggest pain in the flank. I swear, Octavia’s had to drag me all over Equestria and back with all their fancy houses they want me to find music from. And I get practice whenever I don’t have to do that and she still expects me to play at gigs and competitions…”

Maybe he hadn’t wanted her quite that distracted “Sounds nuts,” said Shadow.

“Oh you wouldn’t believe it!” Lightning hardly broke stride “The competitions are the worst I think, because I don’t have to practice for them or anything. I take one look at the judges and then I know what they want and how they want it. I feel so bad for all the other foals when that happens, they practice so hard for that and here’s me just blowing them completely out of the water. But oh god, concerts! Whenever I have to play in front of a crowd it’s such a living Hell because I look out at all those ponies and there’s so much music on their minds it hurts just to comprehend it all! And they always call for encores and Octavia doesn’t let me disappoint them and, well, you know?”

Shadow had gone quiet, managing only a nod as the talking finally ceased in the search of affirmation. “You probably didn’t want to hear it all like that huh?” said Lightning, feeling sheepish “What have you been up to? Being a duke is probably a full time job, huh?”

“Not really,” said Shadow “I mean, ponies are sort of getting the message that I’m not a people Pegasus and leaving me alone for it, so being a duke is kind of worthless?”

“Oh come on,” said Lightning “You’re covered in burns, something cool must’ve been happening recently. Were you fighting some bad guys? Going hoof to hoof with Discord? Wrestling horrible chimeras into submission with nothing but your brute strength and the spurts of fire around you?”

“Where do you even come up with these things?” asked Shadow.

“Just a story Applebloom told the class a long time ago,” said Lightning “Anyway, seriously, you were all poofy and grey before and now you look like barbeque Pegasus. There’s got to be a story behind that right?”

“It’s just meteor hunting,” said Shadow, rubbing the back of his neck “Like, you remember what I did with the whole Discord and the dome thing and then again with winter wrap-up? I’m still practicing that and it’s kind of a high-risk job...”

“Wait,” said Lightning “You mean that thing you do where you fly up into space, get a meteor and just throw it down to the ground?”

“It’s not space, there’s no air to push against and fly through in space.” Said Shadow “It’s the lower stratosphere, and there’s a lot of space junk there because the region of space for Equestria in really thick with asteroids or something. Like, Equestria, not you know, right where you’re standing. And I can’t just throw it, those things way literally tons! It’s a whole fight down to the ground making sure no pony gets hurt.”

“So you are literally fighting meteors?” asked Lightning.

“Sort of.” Said Shadow.

“Awesome.” Said Lightning.

“Hey, losers,” said Charm, having found the library resource and dropped it between them, “I got the thing you needed, back up a little, it takes a lot of space.”

Light and Shadow did a quick step backwards as Charm unrolled the huge scroll. It was new-looking, made of real modern paper instead of the old papyrus that most of the articles here consisted of, and the reason was apparent. It was a map of Equestria, not only the country, but the whole of the planetary sphere on a curved illustration marked with the most up-to-date borders, roads, and even oceanic and aerial trade routes. The Equestrian Nation was a huge, dominating section of the largest continent, a shadow of the empire seen on some older parchments but still the largest single nation by far. There were some annotations claiming the bordering islands for them as well, save for a larger landmass way in the south. To the west the border ended with a large peninsula that seemed to be divided into dozens of tiny countries. North of that was a continent just a bit smaller than Equestria, divided as well, but in much larger pieces. It was at the very southern point of that landmass that Shadow pointed and exclaimed.

“That’s it!”

“What do you mean, that’s it?” said Charm “You’re pointing at half a continent…”

“That’s where it says Great Cape,” said Shadow, turning on Charm with narrowed eyes “Which just so happens to be what I came here to find out about.”

“And unless you’re walking there, location doesn’t really help you,” said Charm “And don’t say you’re flying yourself, a wonderbolt couldn’t stay airborne for a hundredth of that journey.”

Shadow found himself suddenly struck without a response, fortunately Lightning stepped in for him. “Well then what would be helpful?” she said “What sort of place is it? What are the ponies like? What’s there that we might be after?” she turned to Shadow at the last question, making it extra clear that the comment was directed at him.

Charm snickered “Well I can tell you this much, there aren’t actually a lot of ponies there. Yeah, some from when there used to be Equestrian colonies and all, but those are mostly earth ponies. Pegasi aren’t really capable of living in harsher environments and most unicorns just straight up wouldn’t want to.”

Shadow was fuming by now. “What do you mean by harsher environments?” Lightning asked, now more intrigued by the topic than Shadow himself.

“Well there’s a lot of dangerous animals there,” said Charm “Lions, cheetahs, dassies, they’re all native to the region. You seriously didn’t know any of this? It’s like third grade geography.”

“I didn’t have a third grade,” said Shadow and Lightning, totally in synch.

“Oh, well,” said Charm, suddenly puffing her chest, glad at the chance to expound “It’s the native continent of the zebra you know, they outnumber ponies ten to one there. They’ve always been in conflict with the nasty stuff out there I hear. There’s buffalo, not the kind you know, they’re more aquatic or something… And elephants! Let me tell you, elephants don’t live anywhere but there. From what I read they’re some of the wisest people on the planet.”

“That’s nice,” said Lightning “Now what’s special about the place anyway? Is there some sort of special magic in the place?”

“Well no more than here I suppose,” said Charm, shrugging “Probably less actually, there’s no unicorns out there. In a lot of ways it’s like the earth pony villages that don’t run on magic, but if you’re close to the actual cape it’s about as modern as Manehatten.”

“Really?” said Lightning “I always heard zebras lived out in really muddy places eating wild plants and sleeping in huts.”

Shadow and Charm both turned to Lightning, looking at her as though she had grown an extra eye.

“Zecora does neither of those things…” said Shadow “And neither did-“ he stopped here, banishing the thought of that before it could really form.

“You do know that zebras make up about four percent of the Equestrian population right?” said Charm “They’re the second largest minority group with the buffalo just ahead with six percent. The others aside from ponies make up less than one percent.”

“You’re just full of fun facts aren’t you?” said Shadow, letting his eyes roll.

“Well I don’t think anyone asked you?” Charm said.

“No one asked you to spill on about Equestria people.” Said Shadow.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, if you two are going to kiss now I’m going to barf!” Lighting said, wrinkling her nose.

The argument turns to her “What makes you think I would ever do something that utterly ludicrous?” said Charm, looking as though she had just been slapped.

“Well that’s how it always happens in the movies,” said Lightning, as Shadow noticed a gleam in her eye that meant she’d gotten an idea “There’s a bunch of hate and then they make out and the hate is like, gone. It’s called… contrary? Or something?”

“Comedy…” Charm reluctantly corrected.

“Comedy!” Lightning said “There you go, you two could be in, like, a comedy. Fight for a little longer and fall madly in love.” She playfully slugged Shadow’s shoulder, prompting him to unbalance “I mean, my honorary brother is ruggedly handsome in his own, err… special way…” she seemed unsure of the last statement, as though unable to really find any redeeming qualities in the pegasus.

“You’re going to be rugged if you don’t shut up here real quick…” Shadow hissed.

“I don’t care what he looks like, clearly,” said Charm, “He’s a bona fide moron.”

Lighting finally realized she was only making things worse and put herself intentionally between them “Okay!” she said “Let’s not start punching each other or anything, does anyone know what time it is?”

“Oh, um,” Charm tried to recollect herself as quickly as she could and focused her attention on the enormous hourglass near one of the windows “It’s about five, why do you ask?”

“Oh come on,” said Shadow “How do you even know that?”

“The hourglass is turned over every day at noon and midnight,” said Charm “So people who actually stay in a place like a library and learn things can keep time without ticking clocks everywhere to ruin the quiet. You would think someone who actually, you know, lives in the castle would know that.”

“I get the feeling he’s not in here very often…” said Lightning.

“What do you mean by that?” said Shadow.

“Nothing,” said Lightning, “Anyway, Shadow, when does dinner start here? Vinnie’s feels like it’s been days ago.”

Somewhere far away from Lightning an author, trying his best, wants to kick himself.

“Well, officially it starts at four, but no pony really shows up until five or six because that’s when the good stuff starts. Before then it’s just like salads and crap. Is anyone else feeling up for a hayburger? I’m really hungry.”

“You see, that’s the point she was trying to make,” said Charm “And the answer is yes, I would like to join you for dinner. Interesting and Stupid might make for good company.”

“Hey!” said Shadow “That’s not a nice thing to say about Lightning…”

Lightning brought a hoof to her face “Let’s just go,” she said, “Because yes, I’m hungry.”

The books piled around the shelves were enveloped in a yellow glow once again, along with the map as Charm worked her magic to put them back into place. “Hold on for a second?” she asked, double checking the titles on the spines.

Shadow scooted closer to Lightning and spoke as quietly as he could “Wait, were you serious about that whole comedy thing?” he asked.

“Maybe? I don’t know,” said Lightning “Why?”

“Well…” said Shadow “The whole bossy attitude is… well… it’s actually kind of hot.” He hoped he was using the right words “And god, she has a nice flank.”

“Damn does she…” Lightning agreed.

Shadow nodded sagely, then did a double take “Wait, what?”

“Nothing!” said Lightning, so very glad again for the concealment her red fur afforded “I was just agreeing with you. I have no idea what colts like.”

“Alright let’s go!” said Charm, sliding the last book onto the shelf and moving for the ladder “Last one there owes me a baked potato!”

“Oh hay no,” said Shadow, wings spreading as he leapt over the banister to glide to the bottom floor “I’m getting there first and eating every potato you could’ve gotten!”

Lightning watched the exchange vacantly, following them with a notable absence of vigor. She was feeling very conflicted and suddenly far more like Octavia than she had ever hoped to be…

Comments

[Sjacik]

Is Lighting bisexual or lesbian? Right now it is leaning towards lesbian... Though still, Are you updating every Saturday? If so, YAYYYY!!!