Lightning Dust let out a growl of annoyance as she paced back and forth in her crystal cell. The walls, floor, ceiling, bars, and yes even the bed were all made of crystal. Some part of her knew she shouldn’t have been surprised by this since she was in the Crystal Empire where everything was made out of the stuff. But the bed?!? Hadn’t these crystal ponies ever heard of mattresses or did criminals here not receive that luxury? If the latter was the case they could at least put some straw on the bed to make it more comfortable.
“No,” growled Lightning Dust aloud as she shot a death glare at the bed. “That might offset the theme of this place. Can’t have that, can we? Everything has to be made out of these dumb crystals!” With that, Lightning bucked the bars of her cell with her hind legs in an attempt to vent her frustration. The bars not only remained strong, but the impact caused Lighting to let out a yelp of pain.
Wincing from the pain, she slowly turned her head to look at the single door that led out of the dungeons. Hopefully soon that dumb unicorn who brought her here would return and tell her what she did wrong to be thrown in here. She hadn’t done anything wrong…recently. At least nothing bad enough to get put in a dungeon without any real beds!
Lightning could remember a time when her life looked like everything was going great. She had a really sweet job and was on the road to being accepted into the Wonderbolts! For a pegasus like her, becoming a member of their team would be a dream come true. She had even believed she had made a friend, one that understood her like nopony had before.
As she remembered Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust let out a snort. Rainbow Dash turned against her, complaining about how some ponies could have gotten hurt because of a tornado they had whipped up to get rid of some clouds in record time. It wasn’t her fault they had been in an area they shouldn’t have been in! But no, Rainbow Dash had to make a big scene about it before running off to see the Captain. Shortly after that, Spitfire, who had done nothing but praise Lightning for how much she pushed herself, kicked her out of the Academy like she was nothing!
After that, her life had never been the same. Shortly after she had returned home, she was called into her boss’s office and told that there was a problem with her behavior. That she was getting more than a few complaints about her yelling at other weather ponies, shoving them out of the way so she could get the job done faster, and other such things. She even had the nerve to suggest that Lightning go to an anger management class, or take some time off to deal with her issues. Growling, Lightning had told her right then and there that it was everypony else who was at fault before screaming that she quit. The next day, Lightning had then set out trying to find a new job which proved to be more difficult. Many of the other places that offered high paying jobs were rather quick to close the door on her. Even the Royal Guard refused to allow her to join their ranks. The Royal Bucking Guard who did nothing but stand around doing nothing most of the day refused to allow an awesome, motivated pony like her to join their ranks.
Lightning Dust knew there had to be somepony behind all of this. If she had to guess, it was most likely either Spitfire or Rainbow Dash. Maybe even her old boss as well. Anyone of them could have sent out word that they ‘disapproved’ of her or some bull like that with the intent of further punishing her. Well, Lightning Dust was not going to let them win no matter what!
With the only places willing to hire her being low wage positions and the possibility of her losing her home becoming more real with each passing day, Lightning knew she had to make a choice. Thanks to Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, she couldn’t stay here. She knew that. So she sold her home and decided to hit the road hoping that she could find another good job in other places in Equestria. And maybe get some root beer or hard cider along the way to help her forget her troubles.
That was what had brought her to the Empire. Lightning had thought that they might be in need of some weather ponies or something that would require her amazing aerial skills. But, several days after arriving, no new opportunities had presented themselves to her. But that was fine. She had found a nice cloud to sleep on right above the city that would keep her warm as well as safe and had found several decent drinking holes that she was rotating in-between so her tab wouldn’t sky rocket at one too quickly.
Soon after, story of her life, things took a turn for the worst. Lightning Dust was sitting in one of the better holes she had found, downing the last of her fifth root beer float, when the doors burst open. Several ponies entered led by a real jerk of a unicorn who told Lightning to come with him. Naturally, Lightning had told him where to shove it and tried to escape. It should have been an easy task for her to fly away at super speed, moving faster than they could blink. Yet the unicorn managed to lock her inside a magical bubble before telling her she was under arrest.
And now, here she was in a cell all by herself.
“Jerk cheated anyhow,” muttered Lightning in her cell as she thought of him. “Dumb, stupid unicorns and their dumb, stupid magic.”
Just then, Lightning heard a noise that caused her ears to twitch. She got up and looked down the hallway to see that the doors leading out of this place had opened. Walking in the hallway towards her cell was the dumb, stupid unicorn who had caught her. There was a sour look on his face, something that pleased Lightning, as he brought another pony with him. It was a mare that looked somewhat familiar to Lightning, however she couldn’t place her.
Before they got close enough, Lightning saw the white jerk hold out his hoof in front of the mare to stop her. Said mare turned her head to give the jerk an annoyed look.
“Twily, I really think you should reconsider,” said the jerk as he looked down at ‘Twily’. “I know you think you know this mare, but she has trouble written all over her records. She’s wanted in Trottingham, Manehatten, and-”
“Those are minor charges,” replied Twily in a tired, strained voice. “Shiny, I know this mare. I know that she’s a good pony deep down. And you’ll see it once she enlists in this project I’m working on.”
Shiny the jerk snorted at this. “Twily, I know that you ‘think’ you know this mare,” he said before giving the stink eye in the direction of Lightning’s cell. “But you have to understand that this mare is different than the one you knew. They aren’t the same! Even if she agrees to do this, I’m willing to bet the moment your back is turned she’ll run off with your project so she can sell it. Then she’ll spend the bits she gets buying drinks so she can drown away her misery.” Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but the jerk held up a hoof. “Just, please think about this some more. Sleep on it for a day or two. I have plenty of ponies under my command who would give up both the forelegs to work on this. Ponies with real military training who would be far better suited than this loser is.”
Anger gripped Lightning. “Hey, who are you calling a loser?!” she screamed into the hallway. As she breathed heavily, Lightning managed to hear the jerk sigh loudly before the sounds of hoofsteps filled the hallway. And, a few moments later, Lightning was face to face with both of them.
Once they were in front of her cell, Lightning was better able to get a good look at them. Shiny the jerk looked like your average unicorn. Not much had changed about him since she had first seen him. Still, it lightened up Lightning’s mood a bit to see that sour expression a bit closer. But when she went to look at Twily, she nearly did a double take. When she had first seen her, she could only make out the horn. Now, however, that she was closer, Lightning could clearly see a set of wings on her as well. That made her an alicorn! Which meant that she-
“Hello, Lightning Dust,” said the alicorn brightly. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” corrected Shiny the jerk.
Twilight gave him an annoyed look while seeming to fight the urge to roll her eyes. “Thank you Captain Shining Armor,” she said through gritted teeth. Twilight then took a deep breath before looking at Lightning, looking much calmer again. More composed as she looked to face Lightning. “I’m so sorry about this. I had put out a request looking for you a couple of days ago, but I never expected this to happen. When I heard you had been seen in the Crystal Empire, I asked my brother to invite you to stay in the castle until I arrived.”
Shining Armor seemed to have no problem rolling his eyes at this. “Standing warrants,” he said, like that was all the justification he needed. “Besides, she tried to run before we could explain anything. My hooves were tied. But hay, I at least brought her to the castle.”
“Gee, thanks,” said Lightning in a deadpanned tone with a look to match. She then looked at Twilight. “So, why were you looking for me?”
Twilight grinned. “I’d like to hire you to be my personal guard.”
The words struck Lightning like, well, a bolt of lightning. She fell back on her plot while her mouth was hanging open. Did she hear right? The newest princess in Equestria wanted her to be a personal bodyguard!? The Royal Guard had refused to even allow her to fill out the paperwork to get into boot camp!
Lightning quickly shook her head and stood up. “Ok, I know I’m really awesome and all but why would you want to hire me to do something like that when you have maybe thousands of ponies who just stand around all day begging for something like this?” She shot a looking at Shining and smirked. “Is it because they’re so useless you feel safer having me protect you? Maybe there’s some truth to the rumor that a single unicorn managed to slip past the so called ‘elite’ and snuck into your room. And to think that the crowned prince of the Empire used to be a Captain.”
Lightning watched with great satisfaction as Shining Armor began to lose it. His white coat was quickly turning red while his mane began to bristle. There were even small sparks dancing around his horn as his eyes narrowed at her in a dangerous fashion. It was so…sad that she could get under this stallion’s coat so easily.
The princess, on the other hoof, was a different story. At first her eyes widened like she was in shock. Then, however, she placed a hoof on her chest before making a sweeping motion with it while at the same time exhaling. After she did this, she looked a bit calmer.
“I see word of what happened during the Princess Summit has spread,” said Twilight after a moment, her voice sounding clear and in control. It almost sounded like this was no big deal to her or anything to worry about. And maybe it wasn’t, but still hearing this caused Lightning to stare at her in surprise again.
“Th-That really happened?!” Lightning shouted as she stood up. “I thought that it was a rumor, like something that came from a disgruntled guard or some guard trying to make up a story so that his job wouldn’t sound so boring.” Her eyes widened a bit. “I also heard that the princess that she stole the crown from woke up, panicked, and blasted her through like fifteen walls. Is that true too?”
Twilight began to blush heavily. “It was only five walls,” she muttered. As Lightning began to sit back down, her jaw hanging loosely as she stared at the princess, Twilight continued to speak quickly. “I, er, sort of confused her with, ah, another mare that I had a run in before. I thought that she was trying to get revenge like when she came after my daught- I MEAN SCOOTALOO!” Lightning flinched in surprise at sudden outburst.
She watched as Shining gave his red faced sister a nudge. “Sorry,” she said before taking another calming breath. “Well, that unfortunate event is sort of the reason why you are here. After we captured Sunset Shimmer, the mare who tried to steal my crown, and sent her to Canterlot, the topics of the Princess Summit were shifted towards security. In the last thousand years, serious threats have been few and far between which we believe that has allowed the Royal Guard to become a bit more lax.” At that point, Shining gave a bit of a grunt before he looked the other way. There was a pained look on his face, one that Lightning took as ‘they think this is my fault’ or perhaps something similar. “Now, however, it has become clear that the threat level has changed. In the last year alone we have faced Nightmare Moon, Discord, a changeling army along with its queen, and the return of King Sombra. And those were only the major threats! We all realized that when Sunset Shimmer almost stole my crown, we could have lost Equestria’s greatest weapon against such powerful threats. If this had happened, I fear that those foes who have not yet surfaced would make their move sooner.
“When the Summit concluded,” continued Twilight, “each princess vowed to make an effort on their end to improve the Royal Guard. This has been made even more important since we had to return the Elements of Harmony to their source. Both Princesses Celestia and Luna have vowed to work with Captain Shadow Blade to improve the training regimen as well as reaching out to various other races in the hopes of seeking alliances. In fact, right now Princess Luna with speaking to the griffin emperor in the hopes of forging stronger ties while Princess Celestia holds down the fort. Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor are also doing their best to improve the Crystal Guard while searching the library for spells that have been lost to time in the hopes that they could be of some use.”
“We are also making a detailed list of various evil creatures that have been sealed away,” added Shining Armor. “If one thing has been made clear, a seal or banishment will eventually end. And when it does, whoever it was meant to lock up will return to committing acts of aggression against Equestria and its allies.”
Lightning Dust nodded slightly. “Ok, that sounds wonderful and all,” she said slowly. “But where do I come in?”
“That is where I come in,” began Twilight. “You see, my part in this is to improve upon the armor of the Guard. I had an adventure not too long ago where I became somewhat familiar with some advanced technology. While I am not able to perfectly reproduce what I saw there, I believe that in time I will be able to make something similar using what technology we do have while adding in some magical additions that will allow it to function like the original.” Lightning then became aware of a sudden intense focus directed towards her. “I have a majority of the equipment that I will need to begin, however I have yet to find a pony who I believe can bring out its true potential. I had thought for somepony like Captain Shadow Blade whose special talent is combat, however that can not be possible because he is needed in Canterlot. While many of my friends suggested I look into the Royal Guard like Prince Shining Armor here, I realized that there was a mare out there that I knew without a doubt could do this. So, sent the word out to look for her so I could ask her face to face. I only wish I could have done it without the bars between us.”
Lightning Dust stared at Twilight for several moments as she processed what she was hearing, what she was being offered. On one hoof, it sounded like she would be helping to work on something that would help change the future. She might even go down in history books or have something named after her! And didn’t certain member of the Royal Guard get extra perks? Maybe she could get some authority over Spitfire or something! On the other hoof…
“Ok, this job sounds wonderful and all,” said Lightning Dust as she looked the purple princess in the eye. “But you still haven’t told me why you want me! In mean, there are plenty of guards that would jump for a chance like this and you wouldn’t need to search for them. Are you interested in me because I’m disposable? A lab rat that can be easily replaced if something goes wrong?” Lightning Dust had done her very best to keep her voice somewhat calm. However, it had raised bit by bit as she spoke and almost ended with a scream. Still, at the very least, she didn’t raise a hoof to point at the princess. She felt certain that, if she had, Shiny the jerk would have acted.
At first, Twilight’s eyes seemed to widen by the accusation. It took Lightning back a bit, as if she had pointed out something that the high and mighty princess hadn’t thought of. Or, perhaps, she didn’t expect Lightning to figure it out. But, when Twilight spoke next, her words were calm and collected.
“Lightning Dust, I want you for this job because I know that you are up for this challenge. You’re not the kind of mare who will not give this your all. Once we begin, neither one of us will be backing out of this until the end. Even if we have to back to the drawing board a hundred times, you won’t lose your motivation to try it again and again. What’s more, I know you are a mare who will go above and beyond to protect those you care about. There is not a doubt in my mind that you would be willing to make any sacrifice when it comes to those that matter to you. And that is somepony I want working on this with me as well as becoming my protector.”
Now it was Lightning’s turn to look shocked. This…hadn’t been what she had expected to hear at all. Part of her believed that Twilight would have given her some big speech about how she should use her talents to better serve Equestria or something like that. But this felt too sweet, too from the heart to be faked. That or Twilight was one heck of an on the spot actress.
“Wow,” was all Lightning Dust could say at first as she looked down at the ground while scratching the back of her head. “That’s one heck of a sales pitch. Really don’t know what to say to that.” There was a short pause before she looked up into Twilight’s hopeful eyes. “So, ah, if I say yes, what happens next?”
“Well,” began a smiling Twilight. “First, clearing your criminal record. Before I came down here I sent a letter to Princess Celestia explaining your situation. I won’t lie and say that her letter back didn’t suggest any misgiving about this, but she is willing to trust in my judgment. If you agree, the crown is willing to wipe your slate clean as long as you consent to having a portion of your paycheck go towards paying off your debt. After that, you will be assisting me in building the armor and helping to test its various new features. After that is done, we will move onto your training followed by you acting as my personal protector when needed. Maybe testing upgrades and new models from time to time as well.”
“You should also know that we will be keeping an eye on you,” added Shining Armor while Twilight shot him a glare. He, however, seemed to ignore this as he kept his focus on Lightning. “If we suspect that you are not taking this seriously, hurt Princess Twilight in any way, or try to skip town then the deal is off. You will be brought to the nearest dungeon and kept there until your trial.”
“Gee, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine,” muttered Lightning as she shot Shining a glare back. She then turned to look at Twilight. “And I guess if I say no then I’m stuck here in this cell?”
Twilight sadly nodded. “I’m afraid there is nothing I can do about that,” she replied. “But, even if you say no now, I will leave the deal on the table. All you need to do is say the word.”
“Right,” said Lightning before letting out a deep sigh. She looked around her cell once again while thinking up a few more questions. “So, umm, if I take this job will I have to answer to him?” As she said this, Lightning pointed a hoof at Shining Armor.
Twilight shook her head and let out a small smile. “You are going to be my personal guard and, as such, you will take orders from me alone,” she explained while Shining snorted. “The only exception will be if we are separated and there is an emergency. If that happens, you will have to obey the highest ranking pony in the room. Most likely, that will be Princess Celestia or Princess Luna since they live the closest to Ponyville.”
“I can live with that,” said Lightning, happy to hear that as well as the look on Shining’s face. It was priceless! “Ok, one more question: do you have beds that aren’t made of dumb crystal?”
-x-
“Well here we are,” said Princess Twilight as she led Lightning Dust into the library. Slowly, Lightning entered the book filled room with a look of utter confusion on her face. When she had taken up this job she had assumed she would, at the very least, be living in a comfortable home. Not a freaking public library!
Of course, this was not the only thing that had confused the pegasus since taking this job. The biggest bit of confusion came from the first mare she had seen upon arriving at this small town: Pinkie Pie. When Pinkie had met her, the pink mare looked like she was about to cry before hugging her tightly. Her mood shifted after that, remembering how she had been the one to think up the idea of the tornado that had almost killed several ponies. Pinkie then began to talk a mile a minute, with Lightning Dust only catching bit like ‘giving up her live’, ‘all is forgiven’, and ending with ‘party’. As Lightning looked utterly lost, Pinkie just seemed to grin madly in a way that didn’t seem physically possible before literally vanishing.
While the rest of Twilight’s friends were more normal, Lightning still felt a bit confused by their reactions to her. Most of them seemed to do a double take upon seeing her before acting…friendly. Lightning had expected to accuse her, not greet her by saying ‘nice to see you again’ in a way that sounded like they really meant it! None of them brought up what had happened at the Academy, not even Rainbow Dash who seemed happy to see her despite how their last encounter had ended. All Rainbow wanted to know was if they could have another race again. This was just…unnerving.
The only one who acted somewhat like she expected was Spike, Princess Twilight’s dragon pet or whatever. When they were first introduced, he just crossed his arms before giving her the once over with his eyes. It was clear that he wasn’t excited that Twilight had brought her, but still accepted it. No doubt the princess and him had had a conversation before she had gone to the Empire. Still, at least he wasn’t acting like she had come back from the dead or anything like that.
“This is the main room,” said Twilight after Lightning had closed the door behind her. She then pointed to an upstairs section. “Upstairs is where we’ll all be sleeping. And over there is the kitchen where-”
“Wait, hold on,” said Lightning Dust, interrupting Twilight. “This…This can’t be right. You are a freaking princess! And you live here?!”
“Well it is my home,” replied Twilight as she lifted an eyebrow.
“Hasn’t anypony even offered to build you a castle or a mansion?” asked Lightning only to find Twilight shaking her head no. This caused the pegasus to blink. “Wow, you really got gypped. Feels like they made you a princess instead of giving you an awards ceremony or a big pile of bits for all the times you saved Equestria.” She then gave Twilight a deadpanned expression. “Please tell me they at least gave you a fancy title like the Princess of Kicking Bad-Guys Flanks?”
“Ah,” said Twilight as her face turned red and she looked away. “No, nothing at all. Just wings and the title of Princess.” For a moment, nopony or dragon spoke a word nor did they make any movement. Finally, Twilight broke the silence with a cough. “So how about I show you where most of our work will be done?”
“I guess,” said Lightning, hoping that Princess Celestia at least gave Twilight a real lab or something to work with.
As she was lead down to the basement, however, her hopes were dashed. The room she saw looked more like a pit dug under the roots of the tree library above them. Shelves had been attached to the dirt walls containing items that Lightning had no idea what they were used for. There was also a large workbench pressed against the wall cluttered with what appeared to be junk. There were several rolled up scrolls as well as a dozen or so cylindrical metal thingies sprawled out across its surface.
Several machines seemed to take up the majority of the room. One of them looked like one of those salon chairs with the bowl above it to do…something. Lightning had no clue what they did since she had never been in one and always thought they looked silly. On the back of the chair was some kind of control panel that had several blinking lights as well as a thin slot that might possibly shoot out paper. This was Lightning’s best guess and she felt pretty sure about it seeing that there was a large bin of paper next to the device. Another machine looked like a large, round waffle iron big enough for a pony to stand on it. Finally, the last thing she saw was a large, square machine that almost touched the ceiling…and looked almost rusted up.
Beyond that, the floor was cluttered with bits of metal which the princess was only now picking up and stacking with her magic. As Lightning rolled her eyes at all this, she began to wonder what the princesses were thinking. She was sure they had a big enough budget to afford to get Twilight the best, top of the line machines or they could simply rent out a better facility for her to work. After all, hadn’t Twilight explained in pony the importance of all of this?
“Sorry about all this,” said Twilight, snapping Lightning out of her thoughts. It looked like Twilight had somehow been able to read Lightning’s thoughts (or, more likely, read the look on her face) for she gave the pegasus an apologetic smile. “There are a lot of changes going on across Equestria and there simply aren’t enough bits to fund every project. Especially for something that even I admitted might not be completed for some time. Many of the nobles also don’t want to donate any bits to this project, claiming it to be the work of fiction rather than science. Sooo, I have had to make do with what I can get my hooves on. Some of these machines are hoof-made while others are third hoofed.”
As Lightning gave a short nod, she noticed something else was in the room: a mirror. Around it were wires and tubes which were connected to a half finished machine of some kind. It seemed odd that Twilight would have a mirror down here, let alone such an old looking one. Was she planning on turning it into some sort of detection device?
“Well then,” said Twilight, snapping Lightning out of her musing as the purple mare brought her hooves together loudly and began rubbing them together. “Since we’re here, we might as well get started!”
“Ah, ok,” said Lightning.
“Great!” cried a clearly excited Twilight as she gestured to the chair. “Just sit right there and don’t worry. All I’m going to do tonight is map out your brain waves before we get started on the real work tomorrow.”
Shrugging, Lightning moved over to the chair and sat down. As soon as she did the bowl above her came down, pressing her mane against her skull a bit harder than she would have liked. But Lightning didn’t complain beyond letting out a sound of annoyance as Twilight walked over to a device that began spitting out paper with wavy lines on it. After a minute or two of silence, Twilight staring at the paper with a gleeful smile, Lightning began to wonder if all the tests would be this boring. Only time would tell.