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// Chapter 1: Lightning Struck 
// Story: Light and Shadow 
// by oop 
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	Shadow Glared up at the red school building of Ponyville Elementary as he slowly trotted up the hill. It was the first day of the new school year and all around the playground and play structures students new and old were running, screaming and playing, excited for the upcoming year.
One colt, however, was far from excited. As Shadow walked past Applebloom, who was working on fixing Scootaloo’s scooter, there was only one thing on his mind. What had happened one year ago today.
It was still a few minutes before school started, for which he was thankful. He flexed his wings, broad for his size, and ruffled them a bit. He took a small rubber ball out of his backpack and glared in concentration. He tossed it up in the air, then knocked it forward with a wing, then alternated, building up a steady rhythm. Right, left, right, left, right left, knocking the sphere against the painted wood in perfect rhythm, just like Dad had taught him…
The ball hit the grass behind him. He had to stop thinking about that day. There was nothing he could do about it, it was better just to pretend it had never…
“Hey!” came a voice to his left “I got your ball for you! What are you doing just standing there? Are you…crying? What’s the matter?”
Shadow quickly forced himself to breathe regularly again as he turned to face the new pony. It was a red coated filly with a shockingly electric blue mane. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses, too big for her face, and her jagged tail waved wildly back and forth like a dog’s.
“I’m fine…” said Shadow “now can you please give me that back?”
“I’m Lightning Strike!” said the filly loudly “This is my first year here, is this a fun school? What’s your name?”
Deciding to answer the second question first, “I'm Shadow, Shadow Chaser.” Said Shadow, forcing himself to bow as he knew was appropriate when introducing oneself to mares.
“Well it’s great to meet you Shadow!” said Lightning, giggling and dropping the ball as she began to bounce in place “You wanna be friends? I haven’t made any friends yet. I tried the kids on the playground but they all said I was crazy.”
“Uh…” was all Shadow got out before he was blown away again.
“Do you like games? Of course you like games. Oh! You’re a Pegasus! Can you fly yet? I met a unicorn once who was too young to do magic, how boring is that?
“It’s… um…” Shadow mumbled
“Do you think unicorns are snooty?” Lightning shot off again “I’ve heard pegasi think unicorns are snooty. What about clouds? Can you move clouds? But you didn’t say whether or not you can fly! Can you fly yet? I’d be really jealous if you could. I don’t have wings or a horn. My brother doesn’t either so I guess it’s a genetic thing?”
“Look, Lightning?” Shadow interrupted “I’d love to talk but I need to practice.”
“Oh, right!” said Lightning rolling the ball back over “Sorry, did your parents teach you to do that cool trick with your wings?”
A weight dropped into Shadow’s stomach. He turned around and started to walk away “I don’t have any parents…” he said over his shoulder.
Then, Lightning said the only two words that could make him stop “Me either.”
Shadow froze, then turned to look at Lightning, who had a pained smile on her face, though it was hard to tell with the sunglasses. “I’m sorry,” she said “I don’t really like talking about it either, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“It’s okay…” said Shadow slowly, just as the bell rang.
“Oh! Class is starting!” Lightning shouted “I’ll see you later Shadow!” she proceeded to join the mad dash of kids all surging into the building.
“Yeah…” said Shadow after she’d already gone “See you.”
It turned out they would be seeing each other much sooner than he thought. When he managed to squeeze his way into the schoolhouse he discovered Lightning waving to him from the desk next to his.
“I asked Sweetie belle where you sat so I could sit next to you!” she said with a laugh “You look like you need a friend.”
Shadow wasn’t sure whether to feel amazed that she had gotten up the courage to talk to a fifth grader or flattered she wanted to sit by him.
“So seriously,” said Lightning “class is fun isn’t it? I’ve heard people say its fun, but others say it’s boring.”
“It depends on the day,” said Shadow, glad she had allowed a pause for him to speak at last “today’s probably just going to be a bunch of lazy introductions.”
“Well that doesn’t sound like fun…” said Lightning with a smirk “come on, I have an idea.”
“Idea…?” Shadow said curiously, he was getting quieter now the lesson was starting.
Lightning gestured to one of the open windows with a grin, then slid carefully out of her desk and crawled toward it.
“Stop!” Shadow hissed “You’ll get caught!”
“No I won’t!” Lightning replied in a singsong whisper then dove out the window.
Shadow turned quickly to see if Cheerilee was watching. When he saw she was writing something on the blackboard he slid over and followed Lightning out the window.
“You’re crazy!” he shouted once they were a safe distance from the schoolhouse “do you have any idea how much trouble we’ll be in if we get caught skipping class?”
“Nope!” said Lightning, smiling widely “Do you?”
“Yeah!” said Shadow “what happens is they… um…uh…”
“Exactly,” said Lightning, stopping to let Shadow really catch up to her “you see, we’re skipping so it’ll be an adventure, but since neither of us have been caught before, that’d be an adventure too!”
Shadow had to think about that one. She could have a point he supposed. He felt a familiar stirring in his chest, a feeling he hadn’t felt for a long time. He suddenly broke into the first smile he’d had on his face in ages.
“I know just the place if you want to explore,” he said “Come on, follow me!”
“Right behind you!” Lightning shouted and they both took off at a gallop.
Shadow led them along a familiar path, at least to him, which ran down the school’s hill past Fluttershy’s cottage. At one point they had to duck to the side of the path as a pony walked along the other direction. Overall for the two young foals it was already shaping up to be quite an adventure.
Lightning, however, did not suspect such an exciting adventure as the one Shadow led them to. And before she knew it they were standing at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Shadow kept walking casually, crossing the tree line, but Lightning hesitated.
“Hey, Light,” Shadow called back “are you coming or what?”
Lightning was staring into the trees, a feeling of trepidation starting to form now, “But…” she said “That’s the Everfree Forest! Ponies who go in there never come back!”
“It’s just a bunch of dumb trees,” said Shadow, rolling his eyes “I don’t get why everyone’s so scared of it.”
“Because there are monsters in there!” Lightning nearly squeaked “and they eat ponies, or turn them into stone, or kill them and take their skin!”
“The manticores, cockatrice, and changelings all live miles in,” Shadow responded “I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night otherwise, I live right near here, and heck Zecora lives in it.”
“I know…” said Lightning, shivering now “but…changelings…”
“Alright” said Shadow “you can go back to school, but then you’ll miss out on the secret tree house!”
Shadow knew he had won the moment Lightning’s ears perked up “Secret tree house?” she asked intrigued.
“Oh, I shouldn’t tell you,” said Shadow, turning back toward the tree line “It’s only for ponies brave enough to go into the Everfree Forest.”
In the next second Lightning was ahead of him “Well lead the way!” she said enthusiastically.
Shadow flapped his wings, floating ahead to lead the way “Well don’t lose your shades,” he said “well… actually you might, it’s pretty dark in there.” As they continued, the speed at which Lightning had overtaken him stuck in his mind. Could all earth ponies run that fast?
The tree house he was talking about was actually a relatively short trip. Safely near the edge of the forest the tree house of black wood stood somewhat steadily in one of the tall oak trees. Shadow had discovered it during the last school year when he followed two fifth graders after school. He’d been too afraid to approach, but after they had left he’d explored the tree house himself.
Now that they were approaching it again he couldn’t be more excited. The students who had used this tree house before would’ve graduated by now, meaning it was time for someone new to claim it. Lightning was right, this was turning out to be a real first class adventure.
“Um…” said Lightning, prodding one of the moldy rungs on the ladder that led up into the tree “how do we get up there?”
Shadow, in his distraction, had already flown halfway up “Oh yeah, the ladder’s totally busted he said, going back down “let me help you.”
Before Lightning even knew what was happening Shadow had grabbed her round the middle and started flying again, pumping his wings like an insect, straining from the exertion.
“What do you think you’re doing!?” Lightning squeaked “You can’t lift both of us! Stop! You’re gonna drop me!”
Despite her complaints, however it was barely twenty seconds later they were both safely on the porch of the tree house.
Shadow smirked “I practice carrying weights around,” he said smugly “that was nothing.”
“Stupid Pegasus…” muttered Lightning.
“Stubborn earth pony,” Shadow replied in like.
They both entered the tree house itself and Lightning gasped. The wooden walls were covered in carvings. Some were recent, a snake Shadow guessed could’ve been carved just last year, but others were old, very old. A few were in languages he didn’t know or even recognize. Finally against the back wall was a single carving that dwarfed the countless others. A huge star swirl beside a glorious lunar shape, both entwined within the shape of a diamond.
“Incredible…” Lightning said, pacing around “I mean, really, really incredible. How old do you think this is?”
“No idea,” said Shadow, but he had some theories “I think it’s got to be magical somehow or it would’ve rotted away a long time ago. It’s only slowed though, and it’s starting to fall apart anyway. Probably some really powerful unicorn built it when they were just our age.”
“It really is old, do you know what this is from?” asked Lightning, indicating a large hold in the back corner.
“No idea, again,” Shadow replied “It’s really rotten over there, don’t go walking on it.” He unfortunately knew perfectly well what that hole was from. The very first time he had been here he had crashed right through the boards and landed in the leaf mold below. He shuddered just thinking about it, but Lightning was too busy trying to read the writing on the walls to notice.
“I think I recognize this one!” she said excitedly, motioning toward the caption under the star swirl and moon “It’s Alicornian, sometimes my big brother gets assignments written in this language, I can’t read it though.”
“Dang it,” said Shadow “I really wanted to know what it said, I’ve been curious about it forever, don’t get my hopes up like that!”
“Sorry,” said Lightning “I probably shouldn’t talk about it anyway, he’s an admiral in the royal guard you know.”
“No, I didn’t know,” Shadow replied “that’s really cool! My dad used to be the captain!”
“No way,” said Lightning “Shining Armor has been captain of the guard since before we were born.” 
“I said used to be,’ said Shadow, the excitement, for now, holding back his memory reflex “we moved to Ponyville when I was real little.”
“Why would he give up a position like that?” Lightning pondered.
Shadow shrugged “I don’t know, but I sure like it here, can you imagine going to Canterlot with all the noise?”
“I’ve always wanted to go to Canterlot!” said Lightning indignantly “I had to stay with Cheerilee for a whole week while my brother was on guard for the royal wedding.”
“That stinks,” Shadow sighed, remembering wanting to go himself “I heard there were changelings!”
Lightning froze “Were there…?” she asked slowly.
“Yeah, I know,” said Shadow “I wish I’d have been there, I’d have given them worse than a party cannon!”
“No way!” Lightning exclaimed “I never want to see a changeling, not now, not then, not ever!”
“Oh what’s the matter?” asked Shadow smugly “Chicken?”
Lightning was dumbstruck. She turned toward the exit, blinking back tears and dove out the door.
“Lightning!” Shadow called, running after her quickly “where do you think you’re going?”
By the time he made it out she had leapt down off the porch and took off at a gallop, she shouted back over her shoulder “Somewhere where you aren't!”
Shadow sighed, then gasped. Lightning was running even deeper into the forest…