ACT FIVE
The next day, Lightning was off to school. He was especially looking forward today, because Canterlot High had what some schools called Day Rotations. Some days they had certain classes, and other days they had other classes, but they still had the same classes as usual to get through.
Today, right at the start, however, things didn’t go off well. For starters he saw three girls Rarity, a girl who strongly resembled Starla, and there was Pinkie Pie, and Applejack bidding good morning to Celestia, and all she did was scoff and walk into the school in a grouchy huff. “Galloping galaxies, what is with her?” Lightning muttered to himself, but suddenly he could hear the sound of a dog barking. He turned round and saw a dog, matching the description Krysta gave him the other night, chasing Krysta across the schoolyard. “Hey!” shouted Lightning as he began to chase down the dog.
Krysta looked behind her as the angry dog chased her and then she fluttered up into a tree. The mutt barked and snarled as he scratched at the tree, but Krysta grabbed a twig and threw at him. “Go away!” she snarled, but this only made the dog angrier. Finally Lightning showed up. “Leave her alone, ya mutt!” he shouted. The dog looked up at him, and like most dogs he could sense that he was no ordinary human as Krysta was no ordinary bird, and growled at him. Lightning growled back and looked ready to let the dog have it. “Stop!” shouted a voice, and Lightning could see a girl, also matching Krysta’s description from last night-- the dog’s owner, running up to them with a leash in her hand “Leave Spike alone!”
“I will when you get him to leave my bird alone.” snapped Lightning. Krysta fluttered onto his shoulder. “That’s your robin?” asked the girl, and her dog kept barking at Krysta and Lightning. “Spike, down boy…!” the girl growled as she tugged on the leash, and all the noise and commotion alerted Celestia. “What is going on here?” she said deeply and then scolded angrily “Twilight Sparkle, I thought I had told you that pets are not permitted on school grounds!”
“I’m sorry ma’am, but I had to bring him.” cried Twilight. “There isn’t anyone at home to look after him, and I was going to keep him out here.”
Celestia’s anger was rising and she growled. “No pets means No pets period!”
Lightning felt his own anger rising and clenched his fist, but Krysta whispered into his ear “Don’t do it. You’ll get in bigger trouble.” Luckily he didn’t have to, as VP Luna came along, having seen the commotion. “Sister… I mean, Principal Celesita, stop.” Her sister took a few deep breaths and calmed down, and Luna managed to talk her into letting Twilight keep Spike tied to the tree away from the school and the yard. “Lightning Dawn, I’m afraid the same applies to you and your bird.” Luna said.
Lightning nodded. “It’s okay, I have her well trained. She won’t cause trouble if she stays out here.”
“I should hope so, for your sake.” Celestia sneered gruffly. Lightning narrowed his eyes at her. “You don’t scare me, you know that?”
Celestia clenched her fists, but the warning bell rang, and she and her sister headed for the school, but Celestia was really starting to get on Lightning’s nerves. He was snapped out of it when Twilight scoffed “Lightning Dawn? What kind of name is that?”
Lightning glared at her “Well what kind of name is Twilight Sparkle?”
Twilight huffed and walked towards the school. Lightning gazed down and Spike who was still growling at him. Lightning walked away from the tree with Krysta still on his shoulder. She flew into his hand. “I’m starting to hate this world a lot more.” Krysta said.
“Never mind that now.” Lightning said.
Lightning’s four friends were running up the street nearly late for school when they saw Lightning. “What’s he doing?” asked Buddy. “I don’t believe it; he’s talking to a bird.” said Artie
“Talking to a bird?
That’s the silliest I’ve heard.” said Rhymey.
Lightning finished explaining to Krysta if she wanted to hang around the school, she’d have to keep out of sight and trouble. Then he sent her off.
“Lightning…” Starla said, making him jump in shock. “Oh, guys!”
“Are… you okay?”
“I’m fine, really.”
“Still having fantasies about that Star Force you were talking about?” Buddy teased.
“Star… fleet!” Lightning sneered “And it’s not a fantasy, and I’ll prove it to you, somehow.”
The next bell rang, and the five friends realized they were going to be late for class. They ran into the school fast. Lightning put on a little extra speed and zoomed across, much to his friends shock and confusion.
Lightning made it to his locker and fast, but the second he got it open a bucket of cold water spilled right on him, soaking him from head to shoe. Many of the students laughed at him, and Sunset and Flash peered round the corner. Everyone laughed at him and Sunset snickered proudly believing she had gotten well deserved revenge, much to Flash’s annoyance. Lightning, however, stood out in the middle of the hallway and spun around in a pirouette really fast, shaking the water off him, sprinkling everyone else, including Sunset, and Lightning was completely dry and straightened his hair before running down the hall.
Many of the students couldn’t believe it, especially Sunset, with her hair dripping wet. Flash couldn’t help but laugh at how silly she looked, but his girlfriend clenched her teeth and fists and got so mad that she practically dried herself off with the heat from her body. “This means war!” she growled.
For the first half of the day, Lightning got through his basic classes, and he was especially excited when lunch came, because after then, he had a couple of new classes on his rotation day, P.E and Dramatic Arts. This was exactly what he needed to start showing off some of his skills and hopefully someone would believe him and his stories of his mission.
In the lunchroom, however, Lightning saw two twin Spanish brothers sitting at the table with his friends, and they, too, were familiar resemblances. “Dyno and Myte…?”
The boys looked up. “Hola! You must Lightning.” said Dyno. “Hey, wait a minute. How did you know our names?” asked Myte. The other friends wanted to know as well, they had told the boys about Lightning, but not to Lightning about them. “Oh, well… uh… I’ve… heard stories about you boys from around.”
The boys shrugged in confusion, but they were glad to know him anyway. They were away sick for a couple of days but were all better now and ready to get back into action, especially in P.E and get good workouts. “It’s always been our passion to have strong jobs with heavy lifting and stuff.” said Dyno. “So we workout constantly, we dare say we’re the strongest male athletes in the school.” added Myte.
“Then how come you’re not like me?” bragged a voice. Everyone looked up and Lightning saw a girl with rainbow colored hair. This was Rainbow Dash, the captain of every single sports team at Canterlot High. “What do you want now, Rainbow?” hissed Dyno. “We were already sick enough over the last few days without having to listen to you brag all the time.” growled Myte
“Ah, relax, you guys. You know I didn’t mean it like that.” said Rainbow “But you know I am right. I’m not the--”
“…Captain of every team for nothing.” The others, except Lightning, said with disdain. “Seriously, Rainbow, how can you act so cocky like this all the time?” asked Buddy Rose.
“Someone has to.” Rainbow said as she headed off.
“She’s probably just excited about the grand game coming up.” said Artie.
“Grand game…?” asked Lightning.
The others explained how Canterlot High had reached the finals of the grand co-ed basketball playoffs, and the big game was in a few weeks, near the end of the month. Canterlot would be playing against Crystal High, a long time rivaling school which had held the championship title for some time.
“We’ve tried our very best,
But they always emerge above the rest.” said Rhymey.
Lightning felt sorry for everyone, and actually wished there was something he could do. “Well, they’re still looking for extra players on the team, but no one’s ever qualified enough to make it. They want the best of the best.” said Starla
“Even we thought of signing up, but why bother?” said Buddy.
Lightning could see now. “It sounds to me like you all have a lack of confidence. You’ll never win with an attitude like that.”
The others didn’t see what difference it made, and Lightning protested that confidence and believing in one’s self helped make all the difference of all. “Whenever I was faced with challenges, I lost hope and didn’t think my life would get any better, and then one day, because I kept on trying and still believed, everything turned out okay.”
The others began to feel he was on to something. Most of them had lost their confidence while they were just orphans, and alone, but they kept on going and eventually met Grandruler and he helped them to discover the path to a better life, but they still didn’t feel it was enough to help their school win the basketball game.
Starla also had other plans. She reached into her bag and pulled out a poster “The Music Masters?” asked Lightning.
Starla nodded “It’s the school’s upcoming theatrical production, and I’ve decided to try out for the role of the leading lady.”
Sunset overheard that, as did many other who gasped in horror that she would dare try such a thing when everyone knew Sunset Shimmer was trying out for that role herself. “I really don’t think music and theatrics is your style.” she mocked “Why don’t you just stick to star gazing like the people already don’t like you for.”
Starla got mad “It’s because of that that I’m trying out for this role!” she growled “Not that a spoiled bimbo like you would understand.”
Everyone gasped louder, and Sunset felt her head steaming like a kettle, but rather than start a fight about it, she merely scoffed “We’ll see who gets the role.” and she stormed off in a huff.
“Ay’-Ay’Ay’, chica, you’re in for it now!” cried Dyno. “Si, Sunset never lets anyone get in her way.” added Myte.
Starla scoffed “I’m not afraid, especially not of her.” and she got up and left. Lightning was really amazed. First she had no confidence of the basketball game, and now she had just shown it full-blast. Even the others were amazed to have seen this side of her.
Soon, lunch was over, and after the next period, Lightning finally got to attend his first P.E class. Rainbow, the twins, and his friends were all in his class too, so were Sunset and Flash.
Class was held outside, everyone was dressed in shorts, and the coach was Penny Sillion, another resemblance to one of Lightning’s friends, and she also served as the part time school paramedic. “All right everyone, today I’m going to introduce you to something new.” she motioned at the punching machine she stood next to. “This device will help measure how strong and fit you really are before we move on.”
Everyone seemed very eager to try it out, especially the twins and Rainbow, and she got to go first. “Stand back…!” she warned everyone, and she approached the machine and punched the cushion bit with all her might, and she scored a whopping 125 points. “Very nice.” Said Penny, and the students applauded her and exchanged comments.
“Of course she breaks a-hundred.”
“No one beats Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow felt proud of herself, but she wished everyone else best of luck like a good sport, but most of the other students got scores just above 90, and most of Lightning’s friends, and even Sunset. Then it was Lightning’s turn and he thought to himself “This ought to be good.” but he caught a glimpse of Krysta perched atop the football goal post just above. “Psst, Lightning! you may want to take it easy. Don’t go too hard.”
Lightning nodded at her as he stepped to the machine and gave it a simple nudge with his backhand. The students laughed at him for taking such a wimpy shot at it, but when his points added up, even Penny was surprised “Lightning Dawn scores… 774?!”
“What?!” snapped Rainbow, and all the students’ attitudes had changed to shock and amazement, and they began to talking back and forth. “That’s what you call taking it easy?” Krysta sneered softly. “I can’t help it if they’re weak.” Lightning said “Besides, I’ve got to prove to them that my story is real. So, I’m showing off my skills.”
Some of the students demanded Lightning take a do-over, to which Penny agreed and made sure the machine was working properly. So Lightning nudged it again, and he got the same score; 774 points. Rainbow couldn’t believe her eyes, and neither could Lightning’s friends. Flash, however, took it with great interest.
Lightning went back over to the students who stepped a little ways back from him. His friends gazed at him, and he fluttered his eyebrows at them. Penny shook herself out of her shock and told the students to keep on going. The Spanish twins went up, and they each got the same score of 130 points. “No way!” cried Rainbow and more of the others all got between 125 and 130, all of them higher than Rainbow’s score, but it was Lightning’s score that everyone seemed astonished with. “Uh… Flash Sentry, you’re last.” said Penny.
Flash approached the machine and gazed over at Lightning with a sinister grin, and punched the machine so incredibly hard, he broke it, much to everyone’s shock, even Lightning and Krysta’s “How did he do that?” they wondered.
Of course, since Flash had just damaged school property, Penny asked to meet with him after school to discuss about what to do, but Flash didn’t seem to mind that one little bit. Sunset was extremely shocked at what she had just seen, but it soon became obvious that both Lightning and Flash were the new strongest boys in the class.
Rainbow Dash fainted in shock, but she came to almost instantly when Penny blew her whistle for the next exercise, lap running. “Okay, everyone, give me five laps around the field!”
The students huddled to the starting point. Rainbow felt her confidence returning, since she was also very fast, but Lightning felt this as another chance to further prove his truths. “Ready…?” shouted Penny, and she blew her whistle and everyone took off. Rainbow took an early lead way ahead of everyone, Lightning’s friends kept ahead of everyone else “Now this is more my style.” Rainbow said to herself feeling the others wouldn’t catch up to her, when suddenly something zipped past her. It was Lightning, running way faster than she was. “What the--” She was so shocked and confused that she tripped and fell, but almost all the other racers stopped and couldn’t believe how fats Lightning was running, the only one still running was Flash who actually caught up with Lightning. “You’re pretty fast.” Flash said. “So are you.” said Lightning with astonishment, but he couldn’t believe Flash was just as fast as he was as to being just as strong too. Penny couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and neither could Krysta.
Finally, near the end of the period, Penny got them all playing a game of touch football, and once again, she, Rainbow Dash, and all the other students were astonished. Flash and Lightning could throw the football a long way, and leap much higher than even Rainbow could. “Ah, come on!” she groaned, but Penny had seen quite enough and when class was over she asked the two boys if they would consider joining the Canterlot High co-ed team for the big basketball game at the end of the month, but much to her surprise, the boys weren’t interested.
Penny wasn’t disappointed, but she told them to at least think about it “If even just one of you joined the team this I know this would finally be the year we win.”
Lightning agreed to the think about, but Flash gave his final answer. “No, I am not interested.” and he walked off. Lightning kept watching him, having had odd feelings about him ever since he destroyed the punch machine. He looked up and saw Krysta a high window-sill, and winked at her telling her to keep an eye on him. “I think we’re finally starting to get somewhere.”