Chapter 7;
By the time Lightning had finished his story, he and Rarity had finished eating. Lightning had attempted to pay for dinner, but apparently the manager had given instructions to all the servers to not accept food from the colt. Lightning eventually gave up, and he and Rarity left the restaurant. It was late evening now. The streets of Ponyville were nearly empty. A few stragglers were still hanging around, but event hey seemed to be going home. There was a poster on a tree.
Lighting examined the poster. “The return of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Marvel in her wonder.” Lightings tone showed that he was not impressed.
Rarity groaned. “I remember her. She ravaged my mane, and her associates brought an Ursa Minor to town, and nearly caused a lot of damage. It was an….” Rarity paused. “Harrowing experience.”
Lighting rubbed his chin. “I think I would like to meet this unicorn.” Lighting smiled.
Rarity looked at Lighting with a confused look on her face. “Any particular reason, my dear?”
Lightning replied in a calm tone, “Personal reasons, my dear.” Lightning smiled a coy smile, and then continued walking toward Rarity’s house. “I suspect something.” Rarity followed next to Lightning.
They walked in silence for a little bit before Rarity said, “I had a wonderful time tonight.” She smiled.
Lighting was brought out of his small stupor. “That’s great. I had a good time tonight too. It’s been a while since I’ve been with another mare that was not trying to either kill me, or poison me.”
Rarity responded, “I think you mentioned that happens a lot to you, previously.” Lightning nodded.
The couple arrived at Rarity’s house. Rarity opened the door with her magic. “Would you like to come in?” Rarity flashed her eyelashes as the prince.
Lightning laughed a bit. “I certainly hope so. I’m still living with you.” Rarity laughed, and entered the house followed by Lightning.
Sweetie Bell and Watson were playing chess. Sweetie Bell appeared to be beating Watson. Sweetie Bell moved a piece, and declared check mate. Watson examined the board, and sighed. “Is there a game I can beat you at little Sweetie Bell?”
Sweetie Bell smiled. “Nope. I am the board game master.” She smiled a wider smile. Sweetie Bell noticed that Rarity and Lightning walked in, and hopped over to the couple. “Did you two have fun on your…” Sweetie Bell paused for dramatic effect, “Date?” Rarity blushed, and was about to inform Sweetie Bell that it was not a date, but Lightning interjected.
“It was a splendid evening, little pony. We ate some nice food, and I caught up with a good associate of mine.” Lighting examined a nearby clock. “But I think it may be time for you go to go bed. Don’t want to throw off that internal clock of yours. Young ponies need their sleep to grow big and strong.”
Sweetie Bell was not amused with Lightings ‘young ponies need their sleep’ speech. “Yeah….” The yawn that escaped Sweetie Bell’s mouth betrayed her.
Rarity spoke up, “Come along. Scoot, Scoot.” Rarity poked her sister along to get to bed. Sweetie Bell slowly walked along in the direction of her bed. Rarity turned to Lighting. “You didn’t deny that it was a date.”
Lighting calmly looked at Rarity. “That is correct. That is correct.” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “I think I too am going to ‘scoot’ along, and go to bed.” Lighting started walking toward his room. “I shall see you tomorrow Rarity.” He smiled, and entered the room.
Rarity stood in the entry room of her house, dumbstruck of what the implications of what Lighting was implying. Did he mean that they DID just go on a date? Rarity did not want to be presumptuous, and get her hopes up. But, she did personally hope that her feelings for the colt would be shared. After a few moments of shock, Rarity shook her head, and decided before she got too engrossed with another colt, that she would see where this would take her. Rarity remembered her experience with Blue Blood, and hoped to avoid that moving forward. Rarity headed off to bed.
The Next Day;
Rarity and Sweetie Bell were eating cereal for breakfast at their kitchen table. Rarity was skimming fashion part of the newspaper. Sweetie Bell was sitting at the table as well, eating some cereal. Rarity was drinking some coffee and Sweetie Bell some orange juice. Rarity had her mane done in its traditional fashion, and Sweetie bell seemed ready for school.
Lightning exited his room, and groggily strolled into the eating area. His mane was a mess, his eyes mostly closed, stumbling into the kitchen/dining room. “Good morning Mares.” He smiled a tired early morning smile, and slowly strolled over to the table.
Rarity looked up from her paper. “Not a morning person I see.” She smiled a little, taking a sip of her coffee.
Lighting tried to sit down, and missed the chair. “I’m still getting used to beds. I’m used to sleeping in the jungle, or the mountains, or on the ground.” He paused. “But I have been feeling better. I think my side is nearly recovered. I may head back to Canterlot one of these days.” Rarity suddenly shifted, and appeared nervous. “What’s the plan for today Rarity?”
Rarity quickly regained her composure, and cleared her throat. “Well, I was going to go into the nearby city of Mare-waukee, and pick up some fabric.” She turned to look at Lightning. “Would you like to come along?” She raised what could have been called a seductive eyebrow.
Lighting did not seem to notice. “Sure. Sounds like fun.” Lighting poured himself some cereal, and started eating it. The first attempt at getting the spoon into his mouth utterly failed, but the second attempt made it right in.
Rarity looked to Sweetie Bell. “Best not be late for school, Bell.” Rarity left the kitchen.
Sweetie Bell leaned over to Lighting. She had a coy look on her face. “You know that Rarity likes you, right?”
Lightning continued to chew the cereal. “What makes you say that?”
Sweetie bell jumped off her chair and picked up her saddle bag for school. “As her sister, I can tell. The way she looks at you. Rarity never invites anybody to her fabric getting trips. She says it’s a way for her to focus her ‘zone.’ Whatever that is.”
Lightning swallowed his cereal. “So, I should consider this a great honor to go and get fabric with her?”
Sweetie bell jumped onto the table, and looked Lightning in the eyes. “Yes, yes you should.” Sweetie Bell jumped off the table. “Well, I am off to school. See you later, prince of love!” She laughed a little filly evil laugh. It was less threating, and more cute.
Lighting watched the little filly leave the house, and close the door behind her. Lighting leaned back in his chair. Most mares he dated were either interested in him as a target to kill, or as a prince. Then a thought dawned on him. Was Rarity interested in the prince part, or the colt? This was a perception that he had not taken into consideration before.
Rarity burst back into the room. “The best fabrics sell out early, so we should get going soon. Are you ready?” Lightning turned to see Rarity with a large saddle bag on each side of her back.
Lightning blinked. He now saw Rarity in a slightly different light. Was she just interested in princes? He remembered her issue with Blue Blood before. Lightning cleared his throat. “Sure, just give me a few moments to get my things.” Lightning stood up, and galloped to his room to collect his tools. His cloak, belt/saddle bag of things, and his night stick. Lighting returned to the kitchen to see Rarity waiting for him. “Ready!”
Rarity smiled. “Do you really think there will be evil do-ers in Mare-waukee?”
Lightning smiled at her naivety. “There are people always wishing to do evil to various people. I have made many enemies in this world. You never know where they may pop up.” Lighting paused. “They might even be over there!” Lightning pointed toward a window. Nothing happened.
Rarity walked over to Lighting. “Come along. You can be weary of trees on the way.” She smiled. The two ponies left the house for the trip to Mare-waukee.
The sun was bright. There were birds singing, flying around, and singing their various bird songs. There were various ground animals running around, doing various ground animal things. There was a river running along the path the two ponies were currently walking on. The water was doing water related things, mostly flowing downhill. The fact that nothing was happening seemed to put Lightning more on edge than if something actually was happening. Rarity seemed concerned about her traveling companion.
“Is something wrong Lighting?”
“Not yet, but I know there will be soon. I can feel it in my horn.” Lightning’s horn was not glowing. “Or my gut. Let’s go with gut.”
Rarity smiled. “But, can’t you just enjoy the beautiful scenery? It’s a beautiful day! Listen to those birds, and look at that crystal clear water.”
Lighting examined those things. “Yes, maybe too crystal clear. And those birds, maybe just singing too beautifully.” Lighting rubbed his chin. “Maybe you are right, maybe I am being a little crazy.” Lighting paused, and then stopped walking, and adjusted his pose so he would be ready for anything, lowering himself to the ground to lower his center of gravity.
Rarity stopped and looked at Lightning in his new pose. She signed a heavy sigh. “I always fall for the craziest ponies.” Rarity face-hoofed.
Lighting continued to look around for several more seconds, and then stood back up, and continued to walk along the path with Rarity. “I’ll check again later.”
“Are you always this paranoid?”
“No.” Lightning paused. “Usually more so.” He turned his head to face Rarity, and smiled a mischievous smile.
Rarity couldn’t help but laugh at the smile. “Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re serious or not.”
Lighting turned his face to look down the road they were on. “Sometimes, I don’t even know if I am being serious.” The pair walked for a while down the path, just enjoying the weather. A few times, it appeared as though Rarity was going to say something, but she did not for some time.
“Lighting, have you ever thought about settling down with a nice mare? You know, getting married, and such?”
Lightning was caught off guard by this question. He swallowed, hard, and started sweating a bit. “Well, I’ve thought about it here and there. The life as a secret agent is full of peril. I wouldn’t want to put a nice mare through that. Not knowing if I would come home or not.” Lightning smiled a bit internally, knowing that was a good answer.
Rarity retorted. “But what if you found the right mare to settle down with? Would you consider hanging up your cloak for her?”
Lightning put some serious thought into this, before realizing that they had arrived at the town. “Oh, we’re here already! Let’s get some fabric!” Lightning was glad for this, as it would give him some time to think over this new idea to consider.