//------------------------------//
// Ch.4 Lightning Strikes 
// Story: Seven Saviors 
// by Arcanum -Phantasy 
//------------------------------//

It was the usual organized chaos in Canterlot High's Elementary department. Kids from grades three to six intermingled as they made their way to their respective classrooms. Among the swarm that moved through the halls, three Fifth Grade girls gathered close to each other, voices just above a whisper and guard at the highest it could be.
"So," Scootaloo said, stress leaking pass her relaxed mask. "Any idea who MQ might be?"
Sweetie shook her head as she let a shaky sigh slip pass her lips.
"Aside from her being someone in the High School section of the campus and the obvious, I've got nothing."
"The obvious?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Like, she's really good with computers and has a bone to pick with us."
As she said that, she leveled a harsh glare at Scootaloo.
"What? How the heck was I supposed to know I was dealing with some super hacker?"
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle maintained their glares for a minute longer before they let out resigned sighs.
"Yeah, okay," Sweetie said, face palming. "We can't really blame you for that. Luckily, I think we're safe for the time being."
"REALLY!?" Sweetie's friends exclaimed.
"Yes," Sweetie hissed, frantic expression reminding her friends of their situation.
The two smiled sheepishly as they offered an apology.
"It's fine. Anyway, what I was trying to say was that since none of the posts Anon-a-Miss made had anything to do with kids from our own section, MQ probably won't think to look for us here. Meanwhile, we can keep an eye on the High Schoolers and see if any of them start acting strange around Sunset."
"That's gonna be hard," Bloom sighed. "Ever since Meme Queen put up that post, everybody's actin' weird around her."
"Yeah," Scootaloo sighed. "We should probably find a way to narrow the line-up a bit."
Sweetie nodded, as she put a hand up to her chin in thought.
"I guess the best place to start would be the computer clubs."
"That's a great idea," Apple Bloom smiled as they entered their classroom. "If she's so big on computers, then she has ta' be there!"
"Assuming she's one person," Scootaloo frowned.
Both her friends faces went pale as that prospect crossed their minds. It was a possibility, considering their own circumstances.
"Let's not assume anything until we have more facts to work with," Apple Bloom sighed as they took their seats. "And NO posts. The last thing we need is more gas gettin' dumped on th' fire."
Both girls nodded in agreement as their teacher stepped into the room, signaling the beginning of class.



***



Lightning Dust wasn't happy. The whole day, her thoughts kept drifting towards Sunset and her situation. As a result, every time someone so much as mentioned Anon-a-Miss a fresh wave of anger filled her. While a small part of her could understand it, it really boggled her mind that everyone could be so easily suckered by the blogger. Granted, before she went to the warehouse the fiery haired girl called home for god knew how long, she didn't have too many good things to say about her, but the whole Siren incident did paint Sunset in a better light in her eyes. So long as she didn't give her a reason to do otherwise, Lightning was more than happy to let Sunset's transgressions go. But things were different now. She saw the warehouse. She saw the half-dead way the girl carried herself. And while she may not agree with her on the matter, Sunset was now one of her friends. It was that fact alone that made Lightning's situation all the more frustrating as Derpy's words echoed in her head.
We can't openly help her.
"Fuck!" Lightning growled under her breath as she navigated the halls to get to her next class. 
"How are you doing, love?"
Lightning turned her head to the left and spotted a concerned Octavia.
"Terrific," she snapped. "Can't you tell? I'm just all sunshine and rainbows. Wait a few minutes and I'll start DANCING A FUCKING JIG DOWN THE HALL!!!"
Octavia flinched at the outburst, which forced her fuming companion to take a calming breath. It helped, but only slightly.
"Sorry," Lightning frowned. "I just can't stand not doing something, you know? I feel so helpless!"
"I understand that," Octavia said with a sad smile. "Trust me, we all want to do more for her, but we have to do this carefully. This isn't like the last few times we brought someone down. Back then we had a clear idea who our target was, but this time we're flying blind."
"I know that," she growled through clenched teeth. "I know that we can't just run through this blindly, but it still pisses me off!"
Lightning let out a frustrated growl and punched a small dent into a nearby locker they passed. Octavia let out a weary sigh.
"I knew you would be like this," she frowned. "Considering..."
"Yeah," Lightning grimaced. "But this is different. She's got people who actually give a crap about her."
With that, the two exchanged confident, yet tired smiles as they parted ways for their next classes. Two friends more then willing to be what their newest party member truly deserved.
I know at least one way I can back her up without making it obvious...



***



"You're doing what?!" Rainbow Dash gaped, her voice echoing through the now empty locker room.
"You heard me," Lightning growled. 
"B-But why? You're one of our best players!"
Lightning sighed. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, but as long as things stood the way they did, their was no way she could be a part of Dash's team. At least, not if she wanted to be able to look at herself in the mirror each morning. In addition, ever since Anon-a-Miss came around, the atmosphere around the soccer court became more toxic then the rest of the school. Infighting and pointless drama turned what was once one of the city's best teams into a pack of angry dogs ready to tare each other apart at a moments notice. Lightning had already left one such environment years ago, and was in no real hurry to return to that again if she could avoid it. Besides, she always liked track more then soccer anyway and this was as good an excuse to transfer as any.
"I've got my reasons," Lightning shrugged. "See ya around, I guess."
As she said that, she turned and walked away. Desperate to hide her anger, she shoved her trembling fists into her jacket pockets. A great deal of her rage was burnt out in the soccer field but a few flickering embers of it remained. It was the main reason she waited until after class to talk to Rainbow. If she hadn't, things would've ended with one girl keeping less teeth in their mouth at its conclusion. A fight wouldn't help Sunset. It wouldn't make all the damage Anon-a-Miss did to everyone go away. As much as knocking Rainbow Dash on her ass would brighten Lightning's day she wasn't eager to deal with the attention doing so would draw to herself. No. For Sunset's sake, she had to play nice.Of course, life seldom let things end peacefully.
"Sunset's behind this, isn't she?"
Lightning stopped.
The small embers of anger inside her started to reignite as she processed what her now former captain said.
She's got nothing to do with this," she growled, her anger barely kept from contaminating her tone.
Rainbow shook her head and sighed. Believing she was in the right, she crossed the gap between herself and Lightning Dust to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. This only served to feed her growing fury as she listened to the blue girl talk.
"Hey, don't worry. We'll find a way to stop her. Maybe the cops'll get her and she can finally get what's coming to her."
Lightning, back still turned towards Rainbow struggled to keep the growing inferno inside her contained. Her thoughts on the other girl's words did little to aid her.
What the hell did she know?! She's chasing after the WRONG FUCKNG PERSON! Calm down Lightning. Remember, she didn't see the warehouse. She doesn't know anything about Sunset's situation. That's no FUCKING EXCUSE!  She was her friend! She should've heard her out! But she didn't. SHE ALMOST KILLED HER!!!
Her body started to tremble with barely contained rage. This didn't go unnoticed by Rainbow, but she mistakenly identified it as fear. A miscalculation she would soon come to regret.
"Hey, c'mon, just tell me what dirt she has on ya and me and the girls will help ya get her off your back. I promise, once I find her I'll get her to leave you alone. One way or another."
Red. That was all Lighting could remember in between the moment she was facing away from Rainbow and her present  circumstances. She was now towering over a stunned soccer team Captain, her right fist sore from colliding with something. Fresh blood trickled from Rainbow's nose as she stared up at Lightning with wide eyes. Taking advantage of the girl's shock and the rage now fueling her body, she grabbed her by the collar of her shirt then pulled her to eye level. The glare she gave her could burn a hole through the sun as she looked into her victim's magenta orbs.
"Listen closely cuz I'm only gonna say this once," Lightning snarled. "If I ever hear you say anything like that about Sunset again, I'll beat you so far into the ground, you'll need a passport to get back up! YOU HEAR ME?!"
Stiffly, she nodded.
"Good," she sneered as she let the stunned girl fall to her knees. "See you around.
With that, she walked away, well aware of the possible consequences of her actions. But at that moment, she had absolutely no regrets. She also failed to notice a lone figure hidden in the shadows that witnessed the whole ordeal. A figure with purple hair and orange skin.



***



Sunset navigated the mostly empty halls, lost in thought as she ignored the looks she was getting. While Derpy's plan made it easier for her at school it made getting back home a bit more difficult. While she was in no hurry to go back to her old "home", she couldn't deny that it had its advantages. One being that it was harder for someone to tail her there without her being aware of it. Now that she was living with Derpy and her family, she would need to find a new set of routs to make it so her new friend couldn't be linked to her.
I guess I could take a look at the nearby streets and plan a rout from here,  she thought as she pulled out her phone.
Before she could activate her phone a light-green arm draped itself around her shoulders and pulled her into a friendly half-hug.
"Hey boss, how's it hanging?" Lightning grinned as she took in Sunset's stunned demeanor.
"Lightning Dust? What are you-"
"I'll explain later," she whispered. "Just play along for now."
Sunset gave her a subtle nod and still wrapped in Lightning's arm, the two stepped out of the school's main entrence. With a gentle nudge, Lightning guided Sunset towards the parking lot and a lime green camaro. Sunset stared in slack jawed  amazement as Lightning pulled away from her and pulled out her keys.
"Want a lift?" she smirked as she pressed the alarm button on the ignition key.
Sunset nodded dumbly as she staggered over to the sports car's front passenger seat and let herself in. Lightning let out an amused snort as she took her place behind the wheel. A minute later, the two were pulling out on the open road away from the school.
After a couple of minutes of silence, Lightning let out a sigh before saying,"I know you've got questions so shoot."
"Okay," Sunset nodded. "How about what happened to 'not openly supporting me'?"
"There's no point. With me anyways," she sighed as she made a turn.
"How come?"
"Well," Lightning cringed. "I may have decked Rainbow in the face after PE today."
A heavy silence filled the car for a moment as Sunset wrapped her head around that tidbit of information before she let out a loud "WHAT?!"
"It wasn't my fault!" Lightning exclaimed. "I was telling her that I was leaving the soccer team and then she started talking shit about you and I just snapped!"
Not willing to cause an accident, she pulled up to a nearby curve to park. Already she could feel her hands tremble as Rainbow's words ran through her head.
"She was talking about hurting you. Or something like that. I don't know. I really tried to do this peacefully but-"
"You lashed out. Just like you always do when anger controls you."
"SHUT UP!" she bellowed, hands covering the sides of her head as she willed the voice away. 
It was then that she remembered the girl in her passenger seat. Eyes wide, she slowly cast her gaze towards Sunset. She was met with eyes that held equal parts concern and fear as their owner placed a hand on Lightning's shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah," she sighed as she shifted her attention towards the steering wheel. "Just some thing I've had to deal with for a few years. It's not that bad, I swear. Just something that happens when I get too worked up sometimes."
"What is?"
"The Voice," Lightning sighed before she rested her head on the wheel.
Sunset tilted her head in confusion as Lightning tried to organize her thoughts. This was going to take all of her remaining strength to bring to the table. Something that a day like today didn't leave her with much of to begin with.
"If your gonna be hanging with Derpy, I guess you should know. The rest of the gang knows, so why not?"
As she said that, she leaned back in her seat and stared at the car's ceiling, vision distant.
"When I get all worked up, I hear a voice in my head. Docs say it's some sort of minor case of schizophrenia brought on by extreme cases of stress. I've got meds to keep me balanced, but sometimes they aren't enough and it slips in."
Sunset was silent as she processed what she just heard, then asked, "And what does it say? The Voice I mean."
"Nothing I don't already know," she snorted. "It doesn't tell me to do stupid shit like kill myself or hurt others. It just takes my most recent fuck-up and rubs it in my face."
Sunset nodded as she let out an internal sigh of relief.
"You said you've dealt with it for years. Were you born like this or did something happen?"
Lightning chuckled.
"I wish I was born screwed-up. Might've made my life a bit easier. Or not."
Sunset frowned, then said, "What happened?"
Lightning glanced at her from the corner of her eye then looked back at the roof of her car and sighed through her nose.
"My folks weren't the nicest people in the world. No" she said, holding up a hand to stop Sunset from voicing the conclusion she knew was coming. "They didn't beat me or anything like that. Let's just say they were really competitive. Came with the territory I guess. Mom was an Olympic runner and dad was in the military before I was born so for them, winning was everything. And that meant I had to win at everything I did. And I mean everything. Classes. Sports. Life. Everything I was involved in was a competition to them, and I had to win. By any means necessary. If I didn't get an A in a class, I was failing. If I didn't get a better time then the rest of the class, I was slaking off. If I got in a fight and didn't put the other guy down, I was the one at fault. For a while, I was fine with the arrangement. How could I see it was wrong? It was how things had always been since I was five for fucks sake! But then things got real bad. My grades and times started backsliding by a ton. I think I was starting to burn out from all the pressure and do you know what they thought was a good idea? Drugs. They tried to get me on a steroid regiment to give me the "boost" I needed to get my grades back up. Can you believe that? Instead of maybe getting me a tutor or a trainer, they tried to shoot me up! Anyway, I knew things were bad at that point and before they could stick me, I got the fuck out of there and called my Grandpa. Shit really hit the fan at that point, but it was my folks who got the shaft this time."
With a sad sigh, she turned to face Sunset and was startled to see tears running down the other girl's face. It was those tears that gave her the strength she needed to continue.
"The worst part about all that was not having anybody to turn to. Aside form my Grandpa, nobody had my back and the thought that you were in the same boat was killing me! So from now on Sunset, I want you to know that no matter what happens, even if the whole school turns into a lynch mob, I've got your back."
With that Sunset threw her arms around Lightning Dust, a fresh set of tears rolling down her cheeks and dampening the girl's shirt. No, dampening her new friend's shirt.