//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: Lighting Heaven Reincarnated // by A random pony oc //------------------------------// Rae let go of me exactly when we were about to enter the market. I fell to the floor with a thump and grunt as I looked over to the place, which was bustling with ponies buying products, and getting scammed too. Poor, unfortunate, fellows. I glared at Rae. "So, what does the training consist of anyways? Sitting under a waterfall, trying to gather whatever we're gathering?" I asked while getting up, dusting the dirt off of me. Getting levitated without your consent is quite annoying, you feel me? "Eh, probably the usual, like stamina, muscle, and more. Especially your magic usage, it's inefficient. But don't expect me to be an expert. I learnt by experience." Rae said as she took out an whole sack of bits. I swear, I didn't see her with that before. "How do you even pull out stuff you didn't had before? Did you rob someone?" I said questioning Rae. "Wait, don't tell me, it's magic? You suddenly teleport things from an alternate dimension to sate your needs?" "Yes, and no at the same time." she admitted. "I create them out of my energy or essence, though it's quite costly." she said proudly. "But you see, its quite simple. All you got to do is follow an algor-" "No, no, that's enough." I said quickly, not wanting to get my hopes up, and get a headache for free too. If she's me, I can't explain things for the life of myself. "So, why do you need bits all the sudden, can't you just make whatever the hell you want out of your energy." "Like I said, it's quite costly. It's better for me and you to go shopping. Besides, we need some friendly bonding time!" she said happily as she pulled me along. She got out of sheet of paper along with a pen, and started to write a checklist. "What are you writing?" I asked curiously as I tried to look over her. "A list of the things we need, like weights, a stopwatch, some actual exercise clothes..." she trailed off. "Actually wait, do they even have these things?" "I don't know, they never said in the show. Although my memory is great, and I adored the show, I never really paid attention to clothes because... you know, naked." I responded. "Way to put it blunt. I guess till we find what we're looking for, we'll just relax and go wild with these bits." she said, a bit too giddily on the last part. Both my and her head looked at each other, signaling our thoughts. "Shopping spree?" I asked. "Shopping spree." she confirmed. We both ran off to the nearest 5-star restaurant we could find. Food is the most important in these types of instances. I'm glad great minds can think alike. "The total purchase for the takeout will be 275 bits, cash or credit?" the cashier asked as she handed Rae our food. The smell wafted to my nose as I thought. Even though there wasn't a specific mention to any fast-food restaurants in the show, it seems like the show itself is patching the holes in the story, and adding more places. Not like there many holes anyways. Rae passed the coins to the cashier as we head out of building. As we argued who should get what, we agreed to head to a bench far from anybody. "So, now that we got food, what should we do?" I asked as a took a bite out of a hay burger. These are way too dry for my liking. I miss meat. We arrived at the bench, and Rae put down our food. "Well, I thought we should do some bonding activities. And you know the best way to do that? An game of 'Unofficial'! " she said as she took a seat. She took out the cards as she start dishing them out. "Can't we just say Uno?" I said. "I might get sued." she said as she finished setting the cards. I didn't bother to even ask as I took a seat too. "You go first, so you don't say I'm cheating." she said as she laid back. "You're shameless, you know that?" I said with chuckle as I placed down my first card. I took a bite out of my burger as I waited for her move. "Well, it's good to have belief in yourself, isn't it?" she said as she placed down a card with an different color. "Shoot, I don't have that color." I said as she smirked, and pointed at the stack. I groaned as I drew a card, and another, and another, and another. My annoyed face quickly grew to pained as I saw how many cards I had. "Don't be shy, take some more." she said mockingly. She placed down another card, this time an +4. "Okay, now you're cheating." I said as I took the hit, drawing even more cards. As my turn got skipped once again, she put down an regular card. "Don't say I didn't warn you." she said proudly. "I'm going to swipe that smile off your face." I said as I retaliated, putting down a +2. She also placed one, and the race began. Luckily, she ran out before me, so she got the grand total of 12 cards. "So, you wanna take some more or..." I said, now on the high ground. Lady Luck is on my side, Rae. "You do know there is no thing as Lad-" she said, trying to keep a poker face, but the anger was still peeking through. "Just take the damn cards." I said. "You know what, I give up." she said angrily as she threw her cards at me. Just like me, she's a sore loser. "So, since you're a necromancer, and the book said you had a cult, what was it about?" I asked, trying to start a conversation. Since the game ended, and the food got cold, I feel like talking. The air became a bit stiff, as she stayed silent. "The cult wasn't even demonic, it was kind of family friendly even." she said, her voice feeling moody, and even a bit dejected. "See, when I was younger and less experienced, I was quite unresponsive to emotions. I didn't even had that many emotions either, just having basic ones." she continued, suddenly going on an rambling. "As I was inexperienced, I didn't really know how to conceal my abilities, leaving room for some confusion. Like an god who wanted to know more about their people and imitate them. And that's only the surface, it was quite chaotic, but in a good way." I raised a eyebrow, but let her continue. "Soon, we started to build a place just for us, with everyone who 'believed' in me stayed. It was going well too, a few houses here and there, and a few people getting revived-" "Wait, revived?" I interrupted suddenly. "Yes, revived. I thought you knew we can raise the dead, so reviving them with actual souls was on the line too." she said with a deadpan face, with a hint of smug. "Anyways, fast forward a decade or two, I felt complete. With everybody that wanted me, and my newfound emotions. But guess who didn't really like the idea of me looking around to find my emotions, leaving them alone?" "Who?" I asked. "Take a wild guess." they said, a bit irritated. I pondered for a bit, then said, "R.?" "Right on point." she said. "In anger, they destroyed the cult I built, the relationships I built, and most importantly, the families, children, everybody." "So I also had the rights to be angry, and-" they said, before perking up suddenly, and standing up quickly. "I need to go." she said, briskly. "Wait, wait, why?!" I asked in a worry. Sadly, she ignored me. She backed off a bit, and created a portal, with it's eeriness and more. She was about to enter, but stopped and said, "If you're really going to train, just read the book. And make sure to run too." Then she entered and close the portal, galloping. In a daze, I slowly got up, and started to go home, picking up my pace. Whatever it is, I don't need to face it right now.