//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18 
// Story: My Little Pony - Equestria Boy 
// by OliverSparkle 
//------------------------------//

When they arrived at Sugarcube Corner, Fluttershy could feel Lightning trembling and whimpering under her mane. Not only was he afraid of Pinkie Pie, but he was terrified of Rainbow Dash. She looked at the little colt under her mane and nuzzled him. 

"It's okay sweetheart, I promise nothing bad will happen this time," Fluttershy said to the little colt gently. Lightning calmed down a little bit but continued to tremble softly out of both fear and nervousness.

Entering Sugarcube corner, Fluttershy saw her friends sitting at a nearby table and Pinkie Pie behind the counter. All of Fluttershy's friends smiled and waved at the group. Fluttershy took the small colt off of her back and placed him on the ground before going over to the counter where Pinkie Pie was. With some reassurance from Applejack, Lightning nervously followed Fluttershy towards the hyper pink pony that he feared.

When they were in front of Pinkie, Lightning ran and hid under Fluttershy. Fluttershy let out a deep sigh before saying to the pink pony, "Hi Pinkie, I'd like to reintroduce you to Lightning Twister." 

Fluttershy smiled at Pinkie then at the frightened colt under her. After saying some calming and reassuring words, Lightning nervously walked out from under Fluttershy and clung to her leg while still looking at Pinkie. He feared that Pinkie would do exactly what she did last time. However, instead of bouncing over to Lightning Twister, Pinkie Pie just smiled and trotted slowly and calmly over to him trying not to scare him again like last time.

She then said to the frightened colt in a cheerful yet very calm tone, "Hi Lightning Twister, it's great to meet you, I'm Pinkie Pie." 

Both Fluttershy and Lightning were in shock. Pinkie did not bounce, yell, or completely chatter uncontrollably. She was actually calm and introduced herself in a tone that was gentle but it also had the same cheerfulness that Pinkie Pie was known for. It left Lightning wide eyed and left Fluttershy's jaw hanging slightly open. 

Snapping back to reality, Fluttershy smiled said to Pinkie, "Thank you for being much calmer this time, Pinkie." Pinkie simply nodded her head as Fluttershy looked to the colt who was still clinging to her leg. "See Lightning, you don't need to afraid of Pinkie Pie. She may be hyper, but she is really gentle and kind." 

Lightning continued to look at Pinkie who was smiling at him. He let go of Fluttershy’s leg and softly smiled at the pink pony. Fluttershy smiled at the little colt and gave him a small nuzzle. She was happy that now he was starting to warm up to Pinkie Pie. "Alright everypony, let's go have a super duper lunch together!" Pinkie said happily. As the group made their way to the table where all there friends were.

When they arrived at the table, they heard the door opening as they then saw Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer and Oliver Sparkle walking into Sugarcube Corner. Oliver closed the door behind him since he was the last one to come in.

“Hi girls! Hi Oliver!” Twilight said as she got off her seat and trotted to the three. She hugged them one by one and gave Oliver a nuzzle on the cheek.

“How are you three? Especially my number one favourite nephew?” She then gave Oliver a kiss on the cheek as he blushed.

“Aunt Twilight, do you always have to call me that?” He asked after giggling a bit.

“Of course I do, I mean you really are.”

“We’re fine, Twilight. Our time at Canterlot with Spike was great,” answered Sunset as she walked towards Twilight a bit. “Was busy, but great. Celestia let us go home early because she thought we’ve done enough and deserve a break from helping out a lot.”

“But she still needs Spike’s help for another day,” Starlight added, “He should be back home after tomorrow.”

“Well, I can wait for him. Still, it’s good to see you three again,” said Twilight as she nuzzled Oliver again, “It was lonely without you lot.”

Oliver just giggled a bit before the four saw Fluttershy’s walking towards them with a smile on her face while Lightning tried to remain hidden under Fluttershy and behind her hoof.

“Ah, how are you, Fluttershy?” Asked Oliver, “Haven’t seen you since Friday.”

Fluttershy let out a giggle before answering, “I’m doing just fine thank you, Oliver. So good to see you three again.”

“Same with you Flutters,” Sunset said, “I know it’s only been a day away from Ponyville, but I missed you girls a lot during our time in Canterlot.”

“Me too,” added Starlight, “But still, it feels good to be back here in...” She then saw Lightning underneath Fluttershy. “Hello,” She said to him while smiling.

Lightning then clung to Fluttershy’s hoof tightly in shyness as he know she was saying hello to him.

“Who’s this little one?” Sunset asked as she and Oliver saw him too.

“Oliver, Sunset, Starlight, this is Lightning Twister, the little colt I’m looking after.” She then looked at Lightning underneath her and nuzzled him on the cheek.

“It’s okay, Lightning sweetheart. Don’t be scared. This is Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer and Oliver Sparkle. They all live with Twilight and Oliver is Twilight’s nephew. They’re very friendly and won’t hurt you.”

Lightning decided to trust Fluttershy’s words this time so he let go of Fluttershy’s hoof, walked out from underneath her and towards the three new ponies he’s about to meet.

“Hello Lightning,” said Starlight to him kindly, “It’s nice to see you, cutie. Sorry if I scared you a bit when I said hello to you, just like saying hello to new ponies I meet.” She then winked at him.

“Yeah, it’s so nice to meet you Lightning sweetie,” added Sunset.

Lightning just looked at the three new ponies for a few seconds before looking at Starlight’s mane. He then walked towards her and tried to reach her mane.

“Aww, you wanna play with my mane, cutie?” Cooed Starlight as she then bent down so that Lightning can reach her mane.

Lightning began to play with Starlight’s mane as he lightly pushed Starlight’s mane like it was a piece of string and Lightning was a cat trying to grab it. This made Fluttershy, Oliver and the girls giggle as they thought Lightning playing with Starlight’s mane was cute.

“Well it’s good that you three are here,” Pinkie said excitedly, but not too excitedly as she didn’t want to scare Lightning again like yesterday, “Cause we were just about to have lunch together, why don’t you join us?”

The three nodded as they walked towards the table they were sitting at.

When they arrived, Apple Bloom trotted up to Lightning Twister with two other fillies by her side. One was a unicorn filly with same white coat as Rarity and she had a curly purple and pink mane and tail. The other was a Pegasus filly with an orange coat a purple mane and tail. They both have the same cutie mark style as Apple Bloom’s, but with a lightning bolt and a musical note.

The pegasus filly trotted up to Lightning and introduced herself. "Hi there Lightning, it's nice to meet you, I'm Scootaloo." 

The next to come up was the unicorn filly. "Hi Lightning, I'm Sweetie Belle," she said happily before Applebloom stepped in between the two fillies.

"Together we are...THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" All three fillies shouted making Lightning cover his ears.

Taking his hooves off his ears, Lightning said the three very softly, "It's nice to meet you all."

Everyone in the room smiled at the scene of the four children. This was the first time anyone besides Fluttershy actually heard Lightning speak. Lightning stayed with the three fillies as they all talked together happily. Seeing this made Fluttershy very happy.

Turning back to her friends, Fluttershy said to them, "I'm so happy that Lightning is starting to warm up to other ponies."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement still smiling at the little colt and the three fillies. Everything was pleasant, until a look of sadness came across Fluttershy's face.

"Fluttershy dear, whatever is the matter?" Rarity asked Fluttershy with her voice filled with concern.

Fluttershy looked at her friends and said, "Girls, Oliver, I found out the reason why Lightning's so scared."

All eight of Fluttershy's friends listened with interest.

"Lightning's mother had died giving birth to him and his father has been abusing him," Fluttershy said with sadness in her voice increasing with every word.

Everyone in the room gasped in shock and urged Fluttershy to continue.

Fluttershy let several tears roll down her eyes as she spoke more about Lightning's father.

"His father has yelled at him and insulted him. He called Lightning a freak, and the poor little one asked me earlier if I thought he was a freak. He told Lightning that it was his fault that his mother had died. He also scares Lightning with storm clouds. That must be why Lightning is scared to death of thunder and lightning. But the worst thing I found out was that his father has physically beaten him. I found several bruises underneath Lightning’s little wings. When I saw them, I started crying. How could somepony do something like that to a child?"

When Fluttershy had finished, everypony in the room had tears in their eyes, especially Oliver since he’s been through something like that before but with the orphanage owners. Hearing all of this made Rainbow Dash feel incredibly guilty. She remembered she had called Lightning a crybaby when she first met him. Now that she has heard about how his father had insulted him, she couldn't help but wish she could take what she said back.

"The poor little kid, no wonder he was so afraid of all of us," Sunset said with everyone else nodding in agreement.

Before anyone could say anything else, Lightning and the CMC had trotted up to the group. Lightning then saw Rainbow Dash and ran behind Fluttershy while whimpering in fear. Rainbow let out sigh of guilt, she wanted to make things right with the little colt. She carefully got off her seat and trotted towards the little colt.

She knelt down and said to him, "Hey kid, I'm sorry I called you a crybaby when we first met.”

Lightning looked at the the cyan Pegasus in shock. He then gave her a small nod. However he continued to tremble a little bit because he was still somewhat afraid of her.

Seeing him shake, Rainbow Dash tried to reassure him in her usually cocky way. "Hey listen Lightning, I promise you there's no need to be scared of the most awesome pony in all of Equestria."

Lightning however was not impressed as he continued to tremble and hide behind Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash looked down in sadness. Fluttershy placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder and smiled at her friend letting her know to give Lightning some time.

Twilight sat there and gave the colt a sad smile. However she was curious about something. She didn't understand why Lightning Twister broke down and cried when he first saw her. She needed to know what was wrong with her.

Twilight knelt down to Lightning's level to speak with him.

"Lightning, I am so sorry for everything that you've been through," Twilight said with the others nodding, "But can I ask you something, sweetheart?"

Lightning simply nodded his head.

Twilight took a deep breath before saying, "When you first saw me, you started crying. Is it okay to ask if there's something wrong with me?"

Lightning quickly shook his head before saying, "No Twilight, there's nothing wrong with you. It's just that, you look a lot like my Momma."

Everypony in the room was quiet as Lightning continued to speak.

"I had a picture of my Momma in my room. It was a picture of her before I was born. She was very pretty," Lightning said before he started whimpering and tears began to form in his eyes. "Th-that p-picture was all I h-had of her. B-but then my daddy t-took the p-picture away from m-me and b-broke it. H-he s-said I was a f-freak and I d-didn't deserve that p-picture."

Lightning fell to the floor and cried. Fluttershy pulled him close to her and stroked the back of his mane softly. She silently hushed him as everyone looked on with sadness. Deep inside, Fluttershy and the others couldn't believe that this little colt’s father could be so cruel and hurtful to him. One last question then entered their minds. They wondered how Lightning had gotten away from that horrible stallion.

Fluttershy stroked the back of his mane for a few more minutes before pulling Lightning back and said, "Lightning, I'm so sorry your father has done all of this to you. But can I ask you something, sweetie?"

Lightning nodded and Fluttershy asked, "Lightning, why were you all alone when I found you?"

Fluttershy could feel Lightning trembling as he closed his eyes tightly with tears still pouring out.

"I-I-I r-ran away," Lightning sobbed softly. Everypony in the room was silent.

Lightning immediately buried his face in Fluttershy's chest and let his tears soak her fur.

"P-Please Fluttershy, d-don't send me back to my d-daddy! I d-don't wanna go b-back!" Lightning wailed.

Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around Lightning and stroked his side. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she did one thing. There was no way she was going to let him go back to his awful father.

"Shhh...It's alright, Lightning sweetheart. I'm not going to send you back to your father. I promise," Fluttershy said to the colt softly and sweetly.

Lightning immediately wrapped his little forelegs around Fluttershy's neck and cried more tears, but this time, they were tears of joy.

"Oh, th-thank you F-Fluttersh-shy, th-thank you!" He cried as Fluttershy stroked his back with her hoof. Everyone watched on with tears of happiness in their eyes, including Rainbow Dash, Oliver, Sunset Shimmer and the CMC.

Pinkie Pie began to bounce with glee while shouting, "WOO! I'm gonna throw Lightning Twister the best Welcome To Ponyville party EVER!" Everyone, even Lightning Twister, laughed after they heard this.

The sun eventually began to set and everyone said their goodbyes. Everyone went their own way, leaving only Fluttershy and Lightning Twister. Fluttershy scooped Lightning into her forelegs and placed him onto her back. She then took to the sky and flew back to her cottage. When she arrived, she flew upstairs, placed Lightning into her bed and kissed him gently on the forehead. She was about to blow the candle out until she heard Lightning's tiny little voice.

"Please Fluttershy, can you leave the light on? I-I'm scared of the dark."

Hearing this made Fluttershy remember his fear and she nodded her head. She turned to leave but Lightning's voice stopped her once more.

"Fl-Fluttershy, can you sing to me like you did before?" 

Fluttershy smiled at him gently and said, "Of course I can, sweetheart."

She then sung to him her lullaby that she had sang to him when she first found him. Lightning had fallen asleep halfway through the lullaby. Fluttershy trotted up to him and gave him one last gentle kiss before leaving the room. Lightning slept peacefully under the comforting warmth of Princess Luna's beautiful moon.