//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: To embark on a new adventure!  
// Story: With the Shadow of Lightning 
// by oneupthextraman 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 9
Rarity just stood there for several seconds, looking at Lightning. “How soon do you leave?”
“As soon as I can. But I suspect that to be in an hour or two. But we shall see.”
Rarity asked, “Why are you leaving?”
Lighting did not look up again. “I told you, I can’t tell you.”
Rarity walked over to the table, and saw a map on the table. The picked it up, but Lightning quickly snatched it away. “You’re going on a super-secret dangerous mission, aren’t you?”
Lightning continued to pack and examine his things. “I can neither confirm nor deny what you are accusing me of.”
Rarity thought quickly. She needed Lighting to say. She wanted to get to know this pony better. She felt him becoming part of her heart, and she could not bear to lose him. Especially like this. “Wait here. I have to go and…” She paused. “Get some….ponies.” She rushed out of the door. Lighting admired the speed in which she moved. He wondered what had gotten her so agitated. 
Lightning sat down at the kitchen table and examined a large map he had. Making notes on the map, and a piece of paper with his magic, often mumbling things about ambushes, and trees, and dirt. He did this for some time. Only once or twice getting up to walk around, and think. Then, with little warning, Rarity burst through the main door. This caught Lighting off guard. He found this odd that he was caught off guard so easily. Perhaps it was something else that was districting him, he thought. 
Rarity was followed by several ponies. He had met some of them before. Apple Jack and Twilight he recognized. But a pink pony, a yellow pegasus, and a blue one too, were unknown to Lighting. He looked around at the group.
Rarity spoke up first. “We can’t let you go!”
Twilight walked up to Rarity. “We can’t?”
Rarity did not look at Twilight. “Correct!” She raised her hoof, and then turned to her group. “He is going on a dangerous mission, and I don’t think he should go on his own!”
Apple Jack walked forward. “Well apple cube, we can’t stop him from going. But we can maybe try to persuade him to let us go with him.”
The yellow one tried to speak up, but failed to amass enough volume. 
The blue flying one spoke up. “Yeah! Sounds like an adventure! Its been dulls-ville around here lately.”  The yellow one tried to speak again. 	
Twilight asked, “Why are we trying to stop him again? I didn’t really understand the explanation Rarity gave.”
Rarity turned to face her group again. “It’s too dangerous! He may get hurt!”
Twilight responded, “But isn’t that kind of his job? I think you may be hurting his feelings by saying that he can’t handle it”
Rarity was caught off guard by her friend’s question. “Well, no. But….” 
She was cut off by Apple Jack. “Nah Apple cube, she’s just concerned. She’s a colt friend, and she is just concerned for his wellbeing.”
Rarity quickly agreed quickly. “Yes, let’s go with that one!” 
The yellow one finally managed to speak up, but just barely enough for the other ponies to hear her. “Um, he kind of left.” The others were caught off guard by this.
Rarity looked around. “Where did he go?!”
Pinkie Pie pointed to an open window. “I think he went through there!” 
Rarity quickly looked at the window, and then announced to the group “After him!”
Five ponies left the room, rushing to catch up with the sneaky pony. Twilight used her magic to start tracking down the pony. Pinkie Pie remained behind, but in all of the commotion, nobody seemed to notice. She stood in the entry way, just standing not doing much of anything. Then, after several seconds of just standing there, she looked up. Lightning had somehow jumped up to the celling, and was hanging there, with nobody noticing. 
Pinkie Pie spoke to Lighting. “You can come down now. They left.” Lightning adjusted his view, and confirmed that they had left. He jumped down somewhat gracefully, groaning as he hit the ground. 
“Thank you agent pink. I was afraid they would try to stop me.”
Pinkie Pie smiled. “I have faith that they would not be able to stop you.” She paused. “Are you sure you are up to this mission? Have you fully healed from your encounter with the dogs?”
Lighting rubbed his side where he was scratched all that time before. “Well, I just know that my kingdom needs me, and it is my duty to protect it with my life.”
Pinkie Pie looked disappointed. “Don’t go throwing your life way. I know Rarity cares deeply for you.”
Lighting slowly nodded. “I know. I have feelings for her too, as she has taken such good care of me. But I am not certain I can give her the feelings back. I’m not sure I am capable of it after all of these years.” Lighting went back to packing.
Pinkie Pie smiled. “I have faith that you will discover how to care again. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of poking to get it going again. It will come.”
Lightning looked out the window he supposedly escaped out of. “Only time will tell agent Pink. Only time.” Lighting briefly reminisced about his past, but quickly shook it off, knowing that the group would not be gone forever. 
Pinkie Pie said, “See you when you get back Spatula.” She gave a little salute. 
Lighting was part way through the door, which he paused. “One of these days, I’m going to have to talk to Luna about getting that code name changed.” He then proceeded out of the door. 
The sky was clear; it was crisp, and just a beautiful morning. There were a few birds singing, a hand full of ponies walking around town, doing pony type things. Lighting paid little attention to the ponies and their goings on. Then, he heard a great amount of thumping, coming from what would normally be a stampede of some kind of large animal. Lightning stopped in his tracks, and looked around. To his left was Rarity and her friends, charging toward him at top speed. For the first time in a while, Lightning felt a little bit of fear.
Using a lot of his strength, he started galloping at full strength toward the ever free forest. With Rarity and associates hot on his tail, Lighting attempted to activate a teleportation spell, but was blocked by something. He turned back and saw Twilight using her horn. Lightning figured it was a magic blocking spell. 
Lighting was quickly approaching the boarder of the forest. It looked like he would make it! But then, Lighting found himself being lifted off the ground, and slowly losing his speed until he was about a foot off the ground, and not making an forward progress. He eventually lost all momentum at the very edge of the forest. 
Rarity was using her magic, and flipped lighting upside down and around to face her. She had one of those ‘not amused’ looks on her face. Twilight had a similar look, but it looked more angry, and less ‘what are you doing.’ 
Rarity was the first to speak. “Did you really think you would be able to get away?”
Lighting thought about this for a few seconds. “…Yes?”
Rarity continued to not be amused. She turned to Twilight. “Well, what do we do with him now?”
Twilight stopped being mad, and now looked confused. “I thought you had the plan.”
The blue flying one flew over, and had a recommendation. “I say we tie him to a chair, and make him promise to take us with him on his mission!”
Rarity appeared apprehensive. “I’m not sure about that Rainbow Dash. That seems a bit rash, and extreme.” Rarity set Lightning down on the ground, and Twilight let the magic block turn off. 
Twilight explained, “I think we just need to convince him that we would be helpful to his cause.”
Lighting looked to his right. “HEY! WHATS THAT!?!” The 5 ponies that were there all looked to their left. There was nothing there except for a tree. But that was enough time for Lighting to activate a teleportation spell, and get away. 



It had been several days since Lighting had left Rarity’s house. She had been down in the dumps for several days until Luna and Cadence had invited Rarity out to tea one day to discuss various things. Rarity went, and tried to look excited, but she found that she was missing Lightning more and more.
The three ponies were at a small café, drinking tea. There were very few ponies around. It was earlier in the day, so not everybody was drinking in the middle of the day. There were several tables outside of the shop that were free. The group sat near the back near the side of the brick building. 
Cadence looked at Rarity. “Rarity, you’ve seemed down this entire morning. What’s wrong?”
Rarity jumped a bit at the attention of the princess. “What? Oh nothing. Just things going on.”
Luna poked Cadence with her hoof. “I suspect she is missing Lighting.” Rarity blushed at the mention of this. “Am I right?” Rarity mumbled something quietly, looking down at her cup rather dejected. “What was that? Didn’t quite hear you there.” Luna smiled. She already knew the answer, but wanted to hear it from Rarity, so she could help her with her heavy heart. 
Rarity moved her eyes to look up from the table, but not moving her head. “I am missing him. I felt something when I was with him.” She looked up from the table. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Luna smiled. “Yes.” Luna leaned back in her chair.  “The first part of fixing a problem of the heart is to admit that there is a problem.”
Rarity frowned. “Yeah, but he left. And I don’t even know if he has the same feelings for me.”
Luna looked around the café to see if any pony was nearby that could spoil what she was about to tell Rarity. “Lighting occasionally sends in a list to me of ponies he encounters, and updates me on the status of what he thinks about them.”
Rarity looked questionably at Luna. “What?”
Cadence replied, “It’s an enemies list. A list of ponies he considers a threat, and not a threat.”
Rarity still had a confused look on her face. “Ok.” She paused. “What does that have to do with me?”
Luna replied, “He has you down as ‘not a threat’. That’s high praise on his list.” Luna smiled.
Rarity was not impressed. “Not a threat? I bet he says that for lots of other ponies too.” Rarity frowned.
Luna replied. “Actually, only one other pony is labeled as ‘not a threat’.” Rarity looked up, and seemed a little exited to find out who it was. “Himself.” Rarity seemed a little taken back by this. “On his list he labels me and Cadence as ‘not currently a threat’.” Rarity appeared less than excited about this.
“How about Princess Celestia? Surely she would be labeled the same!”
Luna responded. “On the last version of the list I saw, it labeled her as also not currently a threat. He is very picky about who gets that status. Any pony who he believes could prevent him from ‘protecting the crown’ is considered a possible threat. He once explained to me some other criteria, but I don’t remember what they were, and they seemed a bit crazy when he told me. ”
This made Rarity happier. She knew Lighting held the Princess in high regard, and knew that if she was above the Princess, then she may just be something special. Rarity looked off in the distance, creating a day-dream about marrying Lighting, and becoming a Princess herself, and all the various things she would be able to do. The dream had not real specifics, and only lasted a few moments, but was enough to brighten up Rarity and put a smile on her face.
Cadence looked at rarity with a confused look on her face. “You ok there Rarity?”
This snapped Rarity out of her stupor. “What? Oh yeah. Just thinking about things.” Rarity looked off into the distance again, but then quickly snapped back. “What were we talking about?”
Cadence wanted to change the subject. “I think we were discussing what you thought would be in fashion this upcoming season. Right, Luna?” Cadence slowly turned her head to look at Luna with a somewhat coy smile on her face. 
Luna was caught off guard by this sudden change in subject. “….Yes?”
This snapped Rarity out of the rest of her stupor. “Oh, yes.” She paused and cleared her throat. The three discusses what they thought was going to come up. Rarity led most of the discussion, but the two princesses added things to the discussion. Luna had only a little to add, not knowing the history if fashion, but she brought in a sense of what was popular long ago, and fashion can sometimes be circular. 
After some discussion, a palace guard came flying in rather quickly, and galloped up quickly to Luna, and whispered something in her ear. Luna appeared surprised by the news, perking her ears up. She whispered something to the guard, and then turned her attention to the group. “Lightning has been injured during his last mission. He is in a hospital in Canterlot. I must go!” Luna stood up, to leave. 
Cadence stood up to follow. “I should come too.” 
Luna stopped. “Would you like to come too Rarity?”
Rarity looked at Luna with a sad face. “I don’t think so. I would just slow you two down. I can’t fly.”
Luna smiled a little smile. “Don’t let that stop you Rarity. We’ll ride in my royal carriage.” She motioned for one of the nearby guards to get the carriage ready with some hoof motion. The carriage arrived after a few moments. The three ponies were then off.