The Legend of Lightning Ace 2 : Rise of Storms

by LightningAce7

Summer Sun Celebration Preparations

Lightning arrived at Sweet Apple Acres to find it in total chaos. Ponies were running in every which direction in a panic to get everything ready for the Summer Sun Celebration. The very news alone that Celestia herself would be here this year was enough to send them into a frenzy. Half the farm had been converted into a makeshift bakery to handle the daunting task of making enough food for all of Ponyville. In the middle of the insanity was the orange workhorse herself, Applejack. Sporting her stenson and tied back mane and tail, she was busy giving orders and darting between cooking areas making sure that all was going well. After watching the chaos play out for a few moments, Lightning decided to take the plunge into the heart of the mess. He snuck up behind Aj, despite what he told Flash about sneaking earlier, and wrapped a foreleg around her, startling her. "Now what in the hay!?" the mare yelped, dropping a clipboard in the process. She turned her head to see Lightning Ace, who was wearing a mischevious grin. "Oh...It's just you Lightning...for a moment Ah thought you were another official."

Lightning, even to this day still couldn't get over how lovely her accent is. "No...but it looks like you could use my help." Lightning said with a light blush.

"Yup! We sure could! Let me see..." Applejack then looked through her list of what everypony was doing. "Ah, Y'all can help out with the pies. And thanks fer comin' Lightning! It means alot to me!" With that she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and trod off back into the chaos. Leaving Lightning to get to it himself.

He made his way to the pie area where several ponies were working on several pies. Each pie was at a different level of completion, and those that had recently come out of the oven were giving off a heavenly aroma that could even make a completely full pony feel starving again."Well...better get started!" Lightning enthoused as he approached Granny Smith, who was overseeing the pie operation. "Hi Granny Smith! I'm here to help!"

"Thank you kindly sonny!" The light green old mare said. "We need all the help we can get. Y'all can start by gettin us some more flour. There should be some inside the house in the kitchen."

"Consider it done," Lightning said, as he then made for the house.

///////////////

Meanwhile back in town, it was chaos in the library as Moonlight Knight, a dark purple unicorn with a dark brown mane and tail, and a cresent moon for a cutiemark, was in a frenzy to get the place clean for his soon to be roommate. He had only received a letter from the Princess a few days back...

My loyal subject and student Moonlight Knight,

I bid you greetings. You are one of my most gifted and achieved students. And I have a new task for you. I am sending my most loyal and most gifted student to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, as you well know is to be hosted in Ponyville this year. You are to allow this student to stay with you for the duration of the preparations AND the celebration itself. I've also had my scholars and my most gifted mages looking into that theory of yours...about Poison Joke. And they all agree that...though many of the results were hilarious...that it is not a good cure for anxiety or depression. But it does seem to work as a very good addition to anypony's lawn to deter any unwanted pests or intruders. On a more personal note...it works great for pranks...But I digress. Also I'd like you to make two books available to my student. The Elements of Harmony, and The Mare in the Moon for my student to read up on. It was a personal request on the student's part. I would also like to know how the two pegasi, Lightning Ace and Flash Firestorm, are doing. Though they have shown good control of their unique abilities and in fact don't seem to be able to use them, I have recently felt a ripple in the natural flow of mana in the world, like something in one or both of them has been awakened. I await your response.

Your Majesty, Princess Celestia

Moonlight had, of course, immediately responded...

Your Majesty,

Greetings. I have recieved your orders and can assure you that your student will be made comfortable. Considering your info on Poison Joke I would like to ask permission to begin mass production of the plant for the use of a garden defense - as you put it. Though I shudder at the thought of what you mean by 'it works great for pranks'...anyway, thank you and your wise console on the matter. As for Lighting and Flash, I haven't seen either of them in a day or two. Last I heard Lightning was helping the Apple Family with the food preparations, and Flash is helping the weather teams keep some strong thunderstorms from drifting into town. I'll look into the disturbances and report back when I find something.

Your faithful student, Moonlight Knight.

It wasn't the fact of the Poison Joke or the things concerning Lightning and Flash that was worrying him, it was this student of the Princess that had him in a frenzy. There was no secret that Celestia had many a gifted student. Some even almost powerful enough to move mountains. Some were even like walking libraries, having learned enough to understand the very fabric of space and time. And she was sending one of her BEST. And to his own house! For anyponyelse, this would elect many a cheer and prestige. But for Moonlight, this was a nightmare. For starters, in the letter she evaded mentioning the gender of said student. See, Moonlight was still single, and was awkward around mares, especially if they were bookworms and/or eggheads. There was just something about them that got him going. And every time he'd see one, or have to deal with one, he'd freeze up. And now a student from Celestia's Court, was to stay at his house. He managed to drown out these distracting thoughts as he got back to work. His house had to be spotless.

//////////////////////////

Flash Firestorm and Rainbow Dash were exausted from fending off several thunderstorms. It was odd, because no thunderstorms were scheduled for another week. The obvious anwser was that they were coming from the Everfree Forest, as natural storms weren't uncommon to form there. And so here they were, fighting rogue storms. As a result, many much smaller renegade clouds were loose in the skies over Ponyville...which Rainbow Dash was supposed to keep out. But the safety of the town came first, and so fought she did, as she was fiercely loyal to her home, her friends and her country. Some silly clouds could wait.

They had dissipated some twenty or so storms already, but weather team scouts had discovered an even bigger, super cell on it's way towards Ponyville. They had spotted funnel clouds on it's underside, and reports of hail and strong winds were also evident. Thankfully this was the last of the storms, but it was also the largest they've had to deal with in years. Normally for storms like this the Wonderbolts would be called in, as storms like this were beyond most pegasi to handle. Unfortunately they were busy fighting a dragon that decided to attack the treasury in Canterlot, and therefore couldn't help out. They were on their own.

"I can see it...it's massive!" Rainbow exclaimed as she was the first to see the storm swarming around Smokey Mountain. Lightning could be seen flashing in a frenzy as it tore a wicked path in Ponyville's direction.

"How in the hay are we gonna stop this thing!?" Flash said to Rainbow, fear in his voice. Truth be told this was the biggest storm he'd ever seen.

"Well, I doubt just bucking it apart would work," Rainbow said. "But something has to work. Bucking at it may not destroy it, but it'll slow it down as we find a way to stop it."

"Agreed," Flash said as they went over to the rest of the team, which included fellow pegasi such as Cloud Chaser and Rain Drop.

After coming up with a battle plan drawn into the cloud they were sitting on, they nodded at one another and flew directly at the storm. Forming their patented Horizontal Tornado Cloud Drill, they pierced the massive storm ad attempted to trace a hole through it. Unfortunately the storm was too strong for this approach and sent multiple ponies flying. Some were flung into deeper parts of the storm while others were sent to the ground below, and were then grounded by the intense winds of the storm's wrath.

This left Flash and Rainbow Dash to stop the storm.

"We've got to do something!" Flash yelled, trying to be heard over the growling of the storm.

"I'm thinking!" Rainbow yelled back. She, as the captain of the weather team, had to come up with something. The fate of their hometown, now just miles away, hanged in the balance. She then remembered Flash's unique ability with fire, an dthen it dawned on her. "Flash!"

"What!?" Flash yelled over the storm. "Have you though of something!? Or are we gonna be looking for a new home?!"

"Use your fire powers on the storm!" Rainbow yelled.

"What would that do!?" Flash yelled back.

"Think about it...what do storms AND fire need to stay active!?" Rainbow asked.

Flash only needed seconds to realise what she had in mind. It was oxygen. Air. It hit him that with a big enough explosion, they could starve the storm of one of it's most basic needs. He didn't even need to anwser the question. "I understand," Flash yelled. "Get everypony out of the storm! I'm going to choke it with a massive fire blast!"

With that Rainbow spent the next five minutes rescuing the other ponies and getting them out of the storm. Meanwhile Flash had to concentrate. Over the last few years he had been using his powers, but only for really small tasks, like lightning a fireplace or cooking up an egg or fish on the stove. The last time he ever made a literal firestorm was when he was a foal. But now was not the time to think back. Now was time for action. And he needed to do this, for everypony back home. He drew his energy from deep within and breathed deep. He could feel the heat within building. It did not hurt him though, as the heat was an extension of himself. It felt more like a tingling, and it felt surprisingly good. He let the power build up for at least ten minutes before Rainbow gave him the all clear. The storm was then engulfed in what was likely the biggest firestorm ever seen by anypony in this age or any before. The force of the wave of fire alone was enough to annhilate the storm. When the flames died down Flash flew down to the ground to an astonished group of pegasi.

Flash then passed out.

He awoke hours later in his room, with Rainbow Dash and Derpy standing around his bed.

"Wha...what? Where am I? What happened?" Flash asked.

"Well..." Rainbow started. "You kinda...exploded to stop the storm. After you landed you simply passed out. Don't worry, you aren't hurt...dispite the fact that you exploded."

"You made an explosion! A big explosion. It looked like a muffin!" Derpy added.

"Did anyponyelse see it?" Flash asked.

"I think the better question is, who didn't see it," Rainbow anwsered, raising a brow.

///////////////

A royal chariot had landed in the middle of town as a small crowd had begun to gather. The hooves of a lavender pony landed on the ground next to it as the young unicorn student dissembarked. "Thanks for the ride," The unicorn said to the royal chariot pullers, who neighed in approval at her compliment. After which they took off, and returned to Canterlot. Following the unicorn was a small dragon, who was purple and had green spines and spikes adorning his back, head, and tail.

"Hey, there's somepony now..." The dragon said to the unicorn.

"HMMMPHMMM," The mare sighed.

"Oh come on...just try at least, Celestia said that you needed to make some friends..." The dragon said, pointing at a nearby pony...who happened to be Pinkie, who was on her afternoon stroll.

"Ugh...fine. But we really need to check on preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration." The mare said. She then trotted up to Pinkie who had been transfixed by something on the ground. "Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and you are?"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Was all Pinkie said before tearing off to her house.

"Well THAT went well..." Twilight said as she looked at her checklist. "Now lets see...the first thing to check on is the food. Come on Spike, we're off to Sweet Apple Acres." They then started for the farm.

///////////////////////

Pinkie Pie was more excited than ever before. Not only was there an awesome massive explosion in the sky that reminded her oof her 14th birthday, but now there was even somepony NEW in town! And she knew exactly what she had to do...

PARTY!!!

"Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie called out as she trotted into Sugarcube Corner. "There's somepony new here in Ponyville! And I'm gonna throw her a 'Welcome to Ponyville it's Summer Sun Celebration and I'm Your Bestest New Friend Pinkie Pie and Meet Everypony Party!" She finished with a smile that was half her face, and dispite oddly not running out of breath, her super long title left the Cakes confused at best. Before the Cakes could say anything, Pinkie was already up in her room, getting ready for the soon-to-be-party. She started by writing invitations. "Wait a moment..." The pink pony said to herself. "I need permission from Moonlight to use his library! That house has TONS of room!" And with that she walked through the door of her room and exited into Moonlight's study.

"GAH!" Moonlight was startled by Pinkie. "Where did you come from!?" His freak out had caused a small mess, much to his dismay.

"My room silly!" Pinkie happily chirped back. "Can I please use your house for a party tonight?"

"Uhh..." Moonlight hesitated. "Well considering I have a royal guest from the Princess' court coming today...no."

"Awwww...but it's to welcome the unicorn that just arrived today..." She was a little disappointed, but she wouldn't be beaten... the party had to go on.

"Well...I..." Moonlight was still resisting.

"PLEASE?" Pinkie then used her trademark sad-pony-face...complete with wimper...

"Ugh...fine. You can have your party. If anything it'll get my mind off of the guest," Moonlight finally gave in, as there was no resistance.

"WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" Pinkie exploded with cheer as she nearly crushed Moonlight with a thank-you hug. And with that she hopped off around the corner. Moonlight glanced around the corner to see where she went, but she was already gone. He had decided to stop trying to figure out how she did some of the things that she did.

She was already back in her room again, as if she had never left. She then turned her attention back to the invitations, to which she intended to invite virtually everypony in town. Ten minutes later and she already somehow had over half of them written, and at the end of the hour, they were all ready. "Now to deliver them! I can't wait!" and with that she was outside, rushing invites all across town.

////////////////

Back at the farm, Lightning and a few others had finished the last of the baked goods, and had others bring them off for storage until the celebration. "Hey Lightning!" Applejack called out to him. "Can y'all go inside and get a few things fer me?"

"Sure Aj, what do you need?" Lightning asked.

"Ah need you to help gather dishes for the reunion lunch. Just follow the others, they'll help you out," Applejack said.

"Sure thing," Lightning said as he trotted off to help the others.

She nodded to him in satisfaction for his optimism, then turned to buck a tree for more apples to start the next batch of food and drinks. Though after just one perfect applebuck, she then had a visitor. She looked up from the apples to see a lavender unicorn with a small dragon sitting on her back.

"Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to check up on the food preparations for the celebration and..." Twilight was interrupted.

"Howdy partner! Mah name's Applejack and this here's Sweet Apple Acres! We love guests here. Now what can Ah do you for?" Applejack said, whilst shaking the life out of Twilight's hoof, Spike let out a giggle at the sight.

Twilight took a moment to get her hoof to stop shaking. "As I said, I'm here to check on preparations, so if you don't mind, I'm on a tight schedule."

"Ah. Yer here to sample the food...right this way!" Applejack said as she pratically threw Twilight in front of a table. She then rushed over to a triangle and started to ring it. "Soups on everypony!" With that there was a varatible stampede of ponies as the whole Apple Family came out to greet the guest and start the lunch. "Now let me introduce you to the Apple Family...Apple Fritter, Apple Bumbkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples. Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp,deep breath Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, and my colt-friend, Lightning Ace!" By the time she finished there was a mountain of apple dishes now piled in front of her.

"Aheh heh heh..."Twilight laughed after spitting out an apple that was shoved in her mouth. "I'd love to stay but I've still got sooo much to do and..."

"Can't you stay please?" Apple Bloom meelkly said, looking up at Twilight with huge, pitiful eyes.

Twilight was no match for her cuteness, and gave in, much to everypony's joy. Soon multiple tables were set up as everypony sat down and was served lunch. Twilight was seated as the guest of honor, and was doomed to try ALL of the dishes, much to her stomach's dismay. Lightning then saw Twilight...Have I seen her before? he thought to himself. Wait a moment...she was the student at the royal library that we visited when we were foals. "What's up Twilight? I haven't seen you in years." Lightning said to her.

"Wait...Lightning? Oh gosh, it has been a while." Twilight said. "Last I saw you I pointed you to Ponyville after you inquired about a few things."

The conversation then turned to Applejack."So Lightning...How long have you and Applejack been dating?" Twilight asked, which caused Lightning to blush slightly.

"Well lets see...we first met way back when I broke my wing as a foal. She helped a friend of mine carry me to her aunt's place in Manehattan. We spent some time together and we grew close. Since my wing took a while to heal I went with her here to Ponyville. Even after my wing healed and I could fly I decided to stay with her." Lightning said, putting a foreleg around Applejack's neck. "I love her and that's why I moved here." He then nuzzled her, which made her blush slightly, which also cause Applebloom to giggle a little. "As for how ling we've been together? Since we were foals."

They then discussed other things, like the weather, the grass, and a passing bunny. Then before long lunch was over, and they bid an overfed Twilight good-bye. "Well...she hasn't changed since we met her in Canterlot..." Lightning said, giving his wings a quick mini flap then tucking them back to his sides.

"Well at least she stayed fer lunch," Applejack said. "She is definitely an interesting conversationalist."

"That she was...what is all the food for anyways?" Lightning asked,

/////////////////////

Meanwhile Pinkie had transformed Moonlight's home into a rave center. She had tied up Moonlight as well, to keep him from stopping him from doing anything to stop her. She had streamers and balloons as well, strewn across the room. Everything was ready for the party as the guests started to arrive. Thankfully Twilight had plenty of ponies to check on, which kept her from coming too soon. Then the waiting began as the sun began to set, Twilight, unaware of the surprise that awaited her.

Comments

[Some Random Girl]

It's time for my annoying nitpicks.

and flash is helping the weather teams
The first letter of the name should be capitalized.

They had spotted some funnle clouds
Funnel.

next five minutes rescueing other ponies
Should be rescuing.

That's all I noticed right now.

[LightningAce7]

2745691 Found the derps and thanks again! At this rate you might as well be my editor lol

[LightningAce7]

2747821 I too, can't wait to see your rendition of Flash using his powers! Hope your laptop gets well soon. And as for powers, it will only get better. Stay tuned for more!

[LightningAce7]

2749075 He isnt dead...hes been having a run of bad luck with various things. He made a blog about it if you need details.

[LightningAce7]

2749138 Your welcome