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// ch1: Quarrels 
// Story: Eternal Nightmare 
// by MeNoGoosta 
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"...the most incompetent fool I've ever come across! Do you actually..." Lightning Cloak was only listening with one ear, maybe even less. It wasn't the first time he had messed up, though he had never caused such riot which was going on in the rebel's Stronghold Harmony Night. It wasn't that he didn't regret what he had done, considering the aftermath of it. But it just didn't matter if he listened or not since General Storm Breaker was always yelling exactly the same things.
Sighing inwardly, Lightning looked slightly past the General. 

There was a mirror hanging on the wall, and since the young dragonpilot had nothing better to do, he regarded his appearance. His mane was cut short so that it didn't even reach down to his neck. His tail was considerably longer, almost touching the ground as it was. His mane and his tail were streaked with white lightning bolts.
However, his flank was blank. Just as everypony's flank which was blank before the Nightmare Incident. Somehow, Nightmare Moon had managed to banish the possibility of acquiring a Cutie Mark, making it impossible for Lightning Cloak to get one since he was born ten years after Equestria's doom.

Lightning's consciousnesses was pulled back when Storm Breaker suddenly let his hooves crush down on his desk. "Are you even listening!? You are in real trouble and yet, you dare to ignore what I, your general, am saying!?" Lightning cursed his bad luck. None of his friends nor him had ever listened to the General, but somehow Lightning had managed to be the first to let the snorting stallion notice the disinterest of his subordinates.

"I...sir, you got it all wrong! I really was listening!" Damn, now I'm bucked... Lightning thought when he saw the anger building inside the stallion in front of him. But fortunately he was momentarily spared when a messenger entered the Office. However, his relief didn't last long as the messenger started to speak.
"General Storm Breaker? I'm here to inform you, or more precisely you, Captain Cloak, that Commander Dash wants to see the latter of you." Buck it...If mom wants to see me after what just happened, this can only mean the worst. Right now I'd prefer to stay with the General...

Storm Breaker gave Lightning one last evil stare before he nodded, dismissing him. The black stallion saluted and left the room. When he exited the door, Lightning immediately took to the air. He knew how foolish it was to let his mother wait. 

The stronghold was round, surrounded by a high and thick wall and divided into five districts, those being the civilian-district, the pilot-district, the magic district, the cavalry-district and the government-district.
Right now, Lightning was heading for the last one where the three commanders for the rebel-army were located. He glanced at the pilot-district. The ruckus the black Stallion had caused had calmed down a bit, though he could still hear the shouting of officers and stable overseers.

Looking up again his destination came into sight: The pegasi head quarters. It was the biggest building in the hole Stronghold, a huge Tower as it was. Lightning made his way right to the top where his mother had her office. 

After flying through the window and landing on the floor, he trotted over to the entrance of the lion's den, as the pegasi called the commander's office. That nickname wasn't meant taunting, but more awestruck or even fearful. The rainbow maned mare in charge of every Pegasus in the rebel army wasn't someone to joke around with.

Lightning knocked at the door and after a brief "Come in!" from inside the room, he entered. "Hey Mom..." He began "how..." "Don't...Mom...me... right...now!" The commander said with suppressed rage. "Till further instructions you will call me commander Dash, Captain Cloak! Did I make myself clear!?" Lightning gulped, stood straight and saluted. "Yes, ma'am!" Rainbow Dash glared at him for a moment and then replied "Alright, we both know what happened, so do you have something to say for yourself?" "Uhm...do you...wanna hear my version of the story, commander?" 
The rainbow maned mare was suddenly hardly a foot away from his snout and whispered in a horrifying low voice "How is it that you think there are more then one version of the riot you caused. Thanks to you, we now have seventeen wounded ponies, three completely destroyed stables, a dragon on the loose and, maybe the worst of all, an absolutely furious Fluttershy!" Dash's voice had grown louder and louder until she was shouting at him at full power of her lungs.

Lightning's ears were ringing and he had a hard time in not flinching."Please m... commander! Just let me..." "There is nothing to explain! You messed up big time and that's all there is to it! Understood!?" Now it was Lightning who felt anger swelling up inside him. His entire life, the mare in front of him had refused to listen no matter what happened. She cared more for some stupid report about some mistake he had made than for her own son. 
Lightning couldn't contain himself any more and yelled "Can't you just listen for once! I wished dad was still here cause unlike you, he would've listened to what I wanted to say!" Lightning regretted his sudden outburst the moment it ended. His father had died seven years ago while protecting Rainbow Dash and their son. And though the prior couldn't have done anything, she still blamed herself for her husbands death.

The commander's slight anger turned to an absolute fury and before she could stop herself, she gave the Stallion in front of her a slap that made his head tilt around.
As Lightning turned his head slowly back towards Rainbow Dash, tears began to fill his eyes. Though she had been angry with him many times by now, she never had hit him before, nor any other of her subordinates. The rainbow maned Pegasus' expression changed from downright wrath to one of shock and concern. "Lightning I...I didn't..." she didn't get to finish her sentence. Her son turned around briskly and bolted out of the door.



Rainbow didn't stop Lightning when he left the room. She was too shocked about what she just had done. Bringing up her husband had caused the sadness in her to burst out and had turned into a blind rage. But that still didn't excuse hitting her own flesh and blood.
"Really Dash, I never expected to see such a reaction from you." The commander winced and spun around, ready to attack immediately. But she calmed down when she spotted a pink mare standing next to the window behind her desk and sighed. "Pinkie, can't you just use the door like everypony else instead of appearing out of nowhere an startle me?"
The pink mare looked at her for a moment and then responded coldly "I could do that, but where would the fun be?" Rainbow Dash shuddered. Though Pinkie Pie had spoken of having fun startling people she had shown no sign of mirth. The once hyperactive and always laughing mare was like this since she was sent on a mission with a few others, twelve years ago. The mission was a failure and Pinkie was the only one that returned. And although she was unharmed physically, a part of her died on that mission. Nopony ever asked what had happened. The main reason for that was that Pinkie didn't want to talk about it and, on top of that, nopony wanted to face something so dreadful as an event that could take the mares happiness away.

Now she was nothing but a ruthless assassin. There were only two things that made her smile. The first was killing Nightmare Moon's minions and the second was her daughter, Blossom Cake. Her husband meanwhile couldn't bear with what his beloved wife had turned into and committed suicide, taking fifty enemies with him.

Rainbow Dash sighed deeply. "Since you are here Pinkie, you can actually help me." she paused to see the other mare's reaction but as the commander expected, there was none yet. 
"I'v never slapped him before" she continued "and I'm pretty sure that though it didn't hurt much physically, his heart is aching more than a little bit right now." Now Rainbow could see that the other mare was thinking. Finally, she answered "Well you have two possibilities." Rainbow Dash's ears shot up "Firstly, you could go and talk to him. But considering the condition of your relationship, I don't think that'll do. Secondly, and this is what I'd suggest, you can give him a break of yourself." 

The interested look on the rainbow maned mare turned to one of confusion. "Give him a break of myself? What do you mean by that?" "Assign hit to a mission. Have him leave the Stronghold for a while so both of you can cool down a bit." 
Dash considered the  idea and the more she though about it the better the idea seemed. 
"I think that might work. But unfortunately there is a problem. At the moment there aren't any assignments for pilots, and considering and considering our current problems with Nightmare Moons anti-dragon ground units, I don't think we will be able to use our dragons in the near future, unless we find a way to break through their front lines and get rid of those damn squads that give our pilots such a hard time."
Again Pinkie Pie was thinking before she replied "I think i might be able to help again. You can't know that, but your son is quite good in interacting with griffons. But well considering you once got along well with Gilda, it isn't that surprising." True. But still, Rainbow Dash heard of this for the first time, what surprised her. She knew pretty much everything that was going on in Harmony Night. She pulled back from her thought when Pinkie continued "With the upcoming negotiations with the Griffon kingdom, the atmosphere between ponies and griffons in the latter's capital is more than tense. We haven't exactly been enemies, but to say our relation is delicate would be an understatement. And that's exactly where Lightning's role is. I've seen him calm down a two extremely angry griffons by just talking to them. Because of that I think he could ease the tightness that has developed over the past years."

Rainbow Dash thought about it for a while, but couldn't come to conclusion, yet. "Hm...I don't know. It makes sense an all but still...Anyway, thanks a lot Pinkie. I'll think about what you suggest." "Always glad to help you, commander" she replied monotonously "but I wouldn't waste too much time thinking if I were you. Alright then I need to get going now. Bye." "Bye Pinkie. And thanks again." Pinkie Pie shrugged and left the room, using the the door surprisingly instead of vanishing behind curtain or something like that.



After leaving the room, Lightning leaped out of the window instantly and made his way up into the sky. Tears were streaming over his face and were obscuring his vision, but he didn't care.
He flew up until he had reached a small cloud and landed on it, curling him self into a ball. His cries intensified. It wasn't just that his mother had slapped him. It didn't even hurt that much, well at least not on his cheek. The damage the beating had done to his heart was a lot bigger.
However, the real reason for his sadness were the memories of his father swelling up inside his head. Lightning tried to get rid of them, but they just wouldn't go away. He remembered him, Tempest Bolt, all to well. And so did Rainbow Dash. Which was the reason Lightning wasn't angry at his mother. After all, he had been her husband just like he was Lightning's father and she had loved him more than most other things.

Lightning regretted bringing up his father. I wasn't fair of him, but he couldn't have helped it. Unfortunately what he had stated back in his mother's office was the truth. His father would've listened instead of just believing in some stupid reports.

In the end, Lightning fell into a restless slumber. Judging from how refreshed he was, Lighting guessed he had slept about five hours, maybe even six. Yawning, he stood up and looked down from his cloud to the stronghold. After standing there a while longer and wondered what he should do now. Deciding to check on his dragon, Lightning took to the sky, making his way towards the pilot-district.
When he had reached his destination, the black stallion started do descend. He was aiming at the entrance of the stable where his dragon, namely Silver Breath, was quartered. On entering the house, Lightning instantly took in the very familiar smell of a dragon-stable.
After standing there for a moment and enjoying the sweet-sour aroma, he looked at the pile in the middle of the room. He walked over to the dragon's snout and slightly nudged him. Silver Breath lifted his head and tilted it forward slowly to his rider. As the big creature recognized who had disturbed his sleep, he was immediately awake and nudged the Lightning contentedly back, shoving the much smaller pony away a few feet. 
Lightning smiled at the dragon's obvious affection. Silver Breath's species wasn't able to speak unlike others, but in return they were a lot kinder and loyal to their responsible pony. "Hey there, Silver. You alright?" the dragon snorted short and happily. Then, a sudden voice from behind made him turn around "Oh, hey Lightning. I was wondering when you would return to check on Silver." It was a rather small Pegasus with a yellow coat and a slight red mane and tail. His name was Timid Heart and he was one of Lightning's best friends and his stable-boy. Also he was the son of Fluttershy, who was the equerry of the Harmony Night stronghold and head of the dragon-breeding-branch of the whole rebel-army.

Timid Heart sat down next to Lighting and they both fell silent for a few minutes, while Silver Breath purred like cat as his pilot caressed the dragon's nose and chin.
"Do you wanna talk about what happened?" the smaller Pegasus finally broke the silence. "Haven't you heard of it? That's strange... Normally it takes only a few hours for everypony to know how I messed up this time." Lightning's answer was little bit harsher than he wanted and he immediately regretted the bitter tone in his voice. Timid Heart didn't earn such a short tempered response.
However, the red maned pony wasn't bothered at all, used to Lighting being down as he was. "I surely heard what they say, but I know better than to judge from other pony's tales. Especially since we're talking about you here. What you supposedly did just doesn't match the Lightning I know. I'm sure that you would never make a dragon angry because you think it was funny. Or am I mistaken?"

Lightning smiled but also felt a little sad. Those were the words he desperately wanted to hear from his mother. 
"Alright then, I'll tell you what happened."




TEN HOURS EARLIER


After Lightning Cloak took a last look at Silver Breath, he turned around and left the stable. It was quite a commotion going on outside. The hatching of the dragon foals was always left the pilot-district in a turmoil that would take at least four hours to settle down again.
Additionally, the reconnaissance division had just reported that Nightmare Moon's main-army was falling back, which hadn't been the case since the commanders of the rebellion themselves had engaged in the battle for the southern part of the rebellion's homeland, namely Talivia.

It didn't really bother Lightning though. He had been involved in a few smaller skirmishes, but none of them had done the war any good or bad, they just took place, that was all.
Seeing the fiend on the move, especially retreating, actually made the young dragon-pilot exited and made him await orders to move out and kick the enemy's damn flank out of their home. Lightning smiled at that thought when he suddenly heard a loud lash and following it, the loud scream of a dragon in pure agony. Also there he heard somepony cursing.
The outcry had come from behind a large dragon-stable and lightning sped up from his relaxed trot to full gallop. He turned around the corner just in time to see a heavy breed-whip hit a small, crimson dragon which cowered in front of tho Pegasi, restrained by heavy shackles that were obviously to tight. Also did Lightning notice the blood dripping down from the dragons snout where the whip had hit him.

Lightning stood there for a moment, completely stunned by the brutal scene he had come across. Dragons were almost considered sacred beings to the pilots of the rebellion. Seeing one tortured like this let the anger swell up inside Lightning and before he knew he stepped in "Hey, you there! What, in Celestia's holy ass are you doing to that dragon!?" the to pony's turned around in surprise. They hadn't noticed the pilot approaching them from behind. "This is none of your business, brat." one of the torturer replied after a brief moment of recovering "Get lost."
The control over his anger surpassed it's limits. "None of my business? NONE OF MY BUSINESS?!" now it was the two pony's turn to cower in fear. Lightning's fierce eyes and his enraged voice scared them almost to death and they didn't dare to protest when the young pilot trotted past them to the dragon who tried to make himself as small as possible. Or more precisely, herself. Now Lightning was closer he could see that he dealt with female exemplar.
He shrugged it off as an unimportant yet interesting fact, though something told him that this information was somehow extremely vital.

"Don't worry girl, I'm not going to hurt you." Lightning's voice had made a total u-turn, as it now was soothing and caring. On hearing it, the dragon, raised her head and watched him now more curiously than terrified.
He closed the gap and began to undo the shackles. One of the ponies that had tortured the dragon finally found the strength to say "Hey, wait! You mustn't..." it was already too late. As soon as the last restraint was opened, the dragon bolted up into the air and let out a dreadful roar that made the ground tremor.

Lightning shut his ears whit his hooves. Sudden realization came over him. First fact: The ponies he had shouted at wore the uniforms of dragon-breeders. Second fact: The dragon was female. And finally the third fact: The dragon was about to lay eggs!
Unlike Lightning had assumed, this dragon wasn't a tamed one, ready to team up with a pony. It was still a feral creature, and since "pregnant" dragons-females always were in a pretty bad mood, especially briefly before their confinement, the dragon was totally furious right now.

The stable next to where Lightning was standing caught fire as the dragon started to spit golden flames. Two others were soon ablaze as well and hearing the cries of other ponies around him, Lightning could only watch the consequences of his foolish and hastily action unfold before him



"About five hours later, I was called to General Storm Breaker's office. After a few minutes of yelling at me, a messenger barged in and told me that my mother wanted to see me immediately." Lighting Cloak swallowed. He finished his story in tears at the memory of Rainbow Dash slapping him. 
Timid Heart was shocked. Though he knew harsh the commander sometimes could be, she had never harmed a pony that belonged to the rebellion personally. Of course she sometimes let a pony get lashed for a crime, but Timid Heart didn't count that in since the lashings were always pretty well deserved.

"Oh, what do we have here" the sudden voice made the two ponies sitting side by side wince. In the entrance stood a rather small pony with a yellow coat and a pink mane and tail. On her flank where three butterflies. It was Fluttershy. And she looked pretty upset. 
Before any of the two stallions could say something, the mare continued "You actually have the guts to come back here after what you have done? I'd might consider it brave, however right now it's not just foolish but totally insolent for you to come here! Now tell why I shouldn't teach you some manners right here and now?" The equerry's voice hadn't raised a bit, but when angry, every word from Fluttershy seemed like a rolling thunder to the ones that caused her rage.

Timid Heart, used to his mother being so intimidating, looked at his friend. He was clearly in no condition to give a proper answer, trembling from his sobs and fears as he was.
"Mom, please wait! Let me explain!" Fluttershy raised an eyebrow but stayed silent. Timid Heart continued and told her what had transpired here earlier, though he left out the part of Lightning's "lecturing". After he had finished, Fluttershy had obviously calmed down and was now frowning over what she just had been told.
"Alright, it seems like I can't fully blame you for what happened. I can't judge since you aren't my property. But I shall make sure that those stupid breeders get a proper punishment. They might have had good intentions, but beating up a dragon like that may not be allowed. Not as long as I am in charge here." Fluttershy looked at at her son. "I will talk to Rainbow Dash about what you've told me, son. It'll surely make things easier for your captain. As for you," she continued, turning towards Lightning Cloak " you should probably get some sleep an brace yourself for your punishment." 
Timid Heart frowned at his mother's last remark. Lightning had made quite a mess this time, and he would be lucky if he'd just get away with only a few lashes. Even more than before, he was worried about his captain. For Timid Heart, Lightning was more a brother than a superior.