That night, Lightning had the strangest – and in some cases – the most disturbing dreams ever. He had been woken by his brother, who was just as shaken as Lightning was. He went to the bathroom to try and calm; but couldn’t get the images out of his mind. The dreams seem pointless, strange, but pointless. In the first dream, he was in an abandoned warehouse of some kind and was facing a wall covered with mirrors; but he had no reflection. He could see mosquitoes in the mirrors, but when he turned around to look at them, they weren’t there. As soon as it had come, it disappeared, and was replaced with another pointless episode; this one was more disturbing though. He was standing on a deserted beach that he did not recognise. As he looked around, he spotted a young coat just standing still. Suddenly, the coat raced towards the sea and began to swim out. He got quite far out before he began to slow down. He stopped and began thrashing in the water; screaming for help. Lightning went after him but the coat went under and the scene faded. The third and final dream was on a bridge; quite a huge one at that. Lightning stood in the middle of the bridge and on either side of him emerged two figures. One of the ponies was shining with an intense bright light; so bright that Lightning couldn’t actually see his face. The other was shroud in shadow; again, so dark that Lightning couldn’t see his face. The two ponies began to move towards him. When they reached him, they began to whisper in his ear; although, he couldn’t understand what they were saying. Then the dream ended.
Lightning wasn’t the same that morning; those dreams were like nothing he had ever seen before. He didn’t even dream at that, but when he did, they were never anything like that. It was probably just nerves, he told himself.
“It’s probably just nerves” said Thunder. They were in the canteen, having breakfast. Thunder, as usual, was stuffing his face with everything and anything; Lightning however had lost his appetite. “You’d better eat something” advised Thunder. “Can’t race without fuel; if you know what I mean.”
“Why are you always right?” asked Lightning as he reached for a bowl of oatmeal.
“Just my character, you know” replied Thunder. Something snapped inside Lightning’s mind.
“What did you say?”
“Um... eat something?” guessed Thunder.
“No that thing about your character.”
“Look Lightning, stop worrying about stupid things, okay. Put those weird dreams behind you.”
“Oh alright” said Lightning as he gave up and began to eat.
“Morning Lightning.” Lightning smashed the table with his hooves.
“What now!” he roared, spinning round. He regretted what he did immediately.
“Oh... bad time?” said Fluttershy, who had jumped at Lightning’s shouting.
“Flutter... Flutershy. What... what... um... morning” spluttered Lightning, spraying oatmeal in all directions. Fluttershy
began to recoil.
“I can see you’re anxious about the race. I’ll leave you to your breakfast.” Without another word the Pegasus galloped off.
“Damn it!” yelled Lightning, hitting the table with his head; sending a bolt of lightning across its surface and frying a piece of bread. Thunder began to snigger, but he wasn’t very good at hiding that sort of thing; as subtle as a brick he was.
“What are you laughing at?!”
“You! You’ve gone and got yourself worked up over nothing. You worried about the race, causing bad dreams and your
recent bad attitude. Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter if you win or lose; it’s just a race!” Lightning let out a long and loud exhale.
“I hate the way you’re always right.”
“Well one of us has to have brains.”
“Oh, ha ha! Very funny.”
“I’m just pulling your tail. Why don’t you go and apologize to Fluttershy? That way, you can get it off your chest, she will
still think you like her and I won’t have to hear you moan about it for the next week.”
“Anything to get away from your lectures” retorted Lightning.
“That’s the spirit!” beamed Thunder, sinking his face into another bowl of oatmeal. “Happy hunting.”
Lightning had searched high and low for Fluttershy after breakfast, but could not find her anywhere. Great, he thought, that’s all he needed. When out searching, he did find the next best thing, Rainbow Dash. She, of course, was in the training grounds, getting some last minute practice.
“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!” he shouted.
“Oh, hey Lightning, what’s up?” she asked.
“Have you seen Fluttershy, per chance?” he replied.
“Funny you should ask that...” Lightning’s eyes beamed with hope. “No, I haven’t.”
“Damn” muttered Lightning under his breath.
“What?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Nothing. Say, you wouldn’t know where she would be?”
“Try the edges of clouds-dale. She really doesn’t like it here and when she can, she goes to the very edge and just stares
down at the ground.”
“Really?”
“Yep!”
“Thanks a lot Rainbow Dash! Good luck for the race today!”
“You too; although, you’ll be needing plenty of it if you want to beat me” she relied.
“We’ll see about that” muttered Lightning.
Lightning wasted no time and at once made for the edges of Clouds-Dale. He had to hurry though - the race was starting in one hour. He quickly flew north; nothing there. He changed course and headed east, again, not finding what he was looking for. He repeated this and headed south; to his disappointment, she was not here either. Feeling defeated and down-hearted he headed west, expecting what he would find. Knowing me, he thought, she probably walked right into the training grounds once I left. As he approached the west side however, his heart lightened; he spotted one pony sitting on its’ own. Please, he thought, please be her. The pony became clearer and clearer with every flap of his wings. YES! It was her; the pony was yellow and had pink-flowing hair. He touched down near her; but she had not noticed him. He walked closer to her.
“Fluttershy?” he asked gently.
“Ahhh!” she screamed, nearly falling over.
“Sorry! Sorry!” cried Lightning frantically. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” When Fluttershy calmed down, she did not look at
one bit impressed.
“Oh, hello Lightning” she said in a very different voice, as she returned to her sitting position.
“Please Fluttershy, I didn’t mean to shout back there. I’m just nervous about this race; I didn’t know it was you” he
pleaded. She looked up at him and he smiled back at her. Next thing Lightning knew, she had thrown herself at him; catching him unawares. He didn’t notice at first, but then it dawned on him: He was hugging her!
“And I’m sorry too; I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.” In a bid not to look nervous, Lightning gripped her tighter. Time seemed to fade out of existence while the two Pegasi held each other. It was like they had both entered Nirvana. They both finally let go, smiling at one another.
“Can I sit with you for a while?” Lightning asked her.
“Of course” she replied, returning to her original position. Lightning lay beside her, looking down at what she was obviously looking at.
“Rainbow Dash said you would be here. She said you hate it here.”
“Yeah, I do. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a weak flyer.”
“I’m sure you’re not that bad. Why do you look down at the ground though?”
“It reminds me of all my friends back in Ponyville, where I live. I hate these summer flight camps.”
“It’s my first year, so I have yet to make up my mind up.”
“Where do you live Lightning?” asked Fluttershy.
“My brother and I live in Manehatten.”
“Do you like it there?”
“No. It’s too snobby for me.”
“Why don’t you move?”
“Thunder and I are thinking about it; but we haven’t come to a conclusion yet. CRAP! The race! Sorry Fluttershy, I’ve got to go.”
“Lightning?” she asked.
“Yes?” said Lightning, turning around. Fluttershy gently placed her lips on the side of his face. Lightning stood, spellbound, staring at her. Did that just happen?
“Good luck” she said with a smile. Lightning didn’t respond; he was still taken a back from the kiss. “You had better hurry” she said. Lightning snapped out of his trance.
“Your right... um... yes... right.” Fluttershy covered his mouth with her hoof. “Go” she said simply. With that Lightning took off towards the arena. Fluttershy watched him go and then returned to her sitting position.
“Lightning, there you are” said Thunder as Lightning entered the competitors longue. “What took you so long?”
“Oh nothing” he replied.
“Whatever just put this on...” He handed Lightning a vest with a belt around it; it also had a number four on it. “Your
number; if you haven’t already guessed.”
“Have you ever considered a career as a comedian?” asked Lightning sarcastically.
“No, but you should: You would get laughs jut by looks.”
“Oh ha ha.”
“I’m only joking. I think I had better be on my way. Good luck bro. He raised his hoof and Lightning did the same. “Bro hoof” said Thunder. Lightning and Thunder smashed their hooves together.
“Bro hoof” responded Lightning. With that, Thunder headed for the stands. Lightning looked around the longue and observed his opponents. There were two coats, including himself, and three mares. He looked at the other coat: He was of medium height, rather skinny and had a fair-coloured mane. He was red in colour and had the strangest cutie-mark Lightning had ever seen. It was a golden badge of some kind which was shaped a little bit like an oval with a sharp edge at the bottom. He saw Rainbow Dash talking to the other two mares and decided to approach the strange coat. He was standing on his own, adjusting his number vest; he was number three.
“Er... hello” said Lightning as he walked towards the coat. At Lightning’s greeting he looked up.
“Well hello. Say, are you that Pegasus who created Lightning during his heat?” he asked.
“Um... yes that was me.” The coat took Lightning’s hoof and shook it vigorously.
“Well you must be Lightning then; it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“And you are...” said Lightning, recovering from the intense hoof-shake.
“Oh, please forgive me; where are my manners. I’m Spectrum.” Their conversation was cut short by the announcer:
“All competitors: Please make your way to the start line.”
“Well best of luck. Oh, one more thing: You’re definitely a better flyer than most of us here; so try and beat that Rainbow Dash one. She’ll brag for weeks if she wins” said Spectrum.
“I’ll try” replied Lightning. He walked with Spectrum through a large double-door and was greeted by cheers of an arena full of eager spectators.
“Oh shi-“