//------------------------------// // S4 CH 15: Amulet // Story: The Story of Twilight Glow // by Jeweled Pen //------------------------------// “So, let me get this straight,” Rainbow said while she paced back and forth. “I get a teensy bit of vacation time and while I’m gone you all start learning how to do the sonic rainboom?” “No, ma’am,” Lightning Dust, her and Shadowfang’s new student, said. The Shadowbolt-in-training stood at rapt attention and Rainbow couldn’t help but be a little proud of her. After all, the mare certainly talked a big game, but she was one of the few who Rainbow saw actually live up to it. So she was a little shocked to see the mare being humble for once, especially after THAT. “So, that WASN’T a sonic rainboom I saw when the train arrived?” Rainbow asked. “It was, ma’am,” Lightning said, that arrogant grin forming on her lips. “Then what, exactly, was wrong with what I said?” Rainbow asked. “I was the only one who had been learning how to perform a sonic rainboom, ma’am!” Lightning said. Rainbow barely suppressed the urge to snicker and even then it was because she saw the look on Shadowfang’s face. She’d have thought he’d be overjoyed, instead he looked worried. Their student had already been leaps and bounds beyond the rest when they agreed to take her on. Now? She was possibly the best fresh recruit they’d ever had. “I see. You think you’ve mastered it, then?” “Not yet, ma’am!” Lightning said. “But I will soon, ma’am!” “You know,” Rainbow said. “Before today I was thought to be the only pony in all of Equestria who could do it. Before me, they thought it was just a myth. You know what this means?” “That I’m going to be the most incredible shadowbolt to ever live, ma’am?” Lightning asked. Rainbow couldn’t help but snicker at that. “Not quite, but who knows? You just might. What it means, though, is that this is an opportunity. I was already planning to perform a sonic rainboom during the wedding. Now? I think we could go even bigger. This could be our opportunity to perform a double sonic rainboom. If that doesn’t blow their minds, I don’t know what will. Think you can handle that, rookie?” “Rainbow, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” Shadowfang said. “I can handle it, ma’am!” Lightning said quickly. Shadowfang gave a soft sigh. “Lightning, you’re still in training. I don’t think you performing right away is a good idea.” Rainbow glanced between the two of them. Okay, something was definitely up. She almost asked Shadowfang to spill, but paused. Finally, she sighed. “Lightning, keep working on it. If you can master it, we’ll see about putting on a show nobody forgets. Shadowfang, let’s share reports on what happened while I was on vacation. Any other surprises?” “No,” Shadowfang said before heading out the door. Rainbow gave Lightning a confused look before trotting out after him, closing the door behind herself. ------ Lightning let out a sigh of relief before almost crumbling to the ground. Everything hurt. If she didn’t know better she’d have thought one of her wings had snapped from the explosion. “Stupid useless bauble,” she muttered before limping towards her room’s mirror. She almost wished she’d waited a little longer before showing off, but she didn’t really have a choice. Shadowfang was too much of a worrier, if she didn’t show Rainbow what she could do before he got into her head with all his fretting she might never get the chance. Still, Lightning wished she’d had a bit more time before Rainbow had shown up in her room. She gingerly peeled back her uniform and stared at her reflection in the mirror. The bruises weren’t too bad, all things considered. Not compared to the alicorn amulet. A small black and red amulet with an image of the head of a unicorn and wings of a pegasus over a red gem. A now cracked red gem. Being at ground zero of a sonic rainboom apparently had done more damage to it than it had her. She reached up to touch it, only to let out a pained cry when some red sparks shocked her. She wondered how it was supposed to do her any bucking good if it broke the moment she actually used it to reach her potential? She reached up to grip it, only to let out a whimper when it zapped her again. She finally grit her teeth and reached up once more, this time ignoring the shock and tearing it off her throat. She then flung it into the garbage bin. “There. I don’t need you anymore. I did a sonic rainboom and I’m going to keep doing them, even if it kills me. The training wheels are off.” Lightning then turned and limped towards her bathroom. First she was going to take a long shower, though. Maybe put some ice on the bruises before-- NO! She shook her head and walked with a furious determination. A cold shower for the bruises and then back out into the sky. Rainbow said they’d do a double sonic rainboom and she aimed to prove she could. If that didn’t make her a Shadowbolt then she didn’t know what would. Besides, if Rainbow could do it, then so could she. She had to give it to her teacher, though. The first time she saw her performing a sonic rainboom she never would have imagined it could be so painful. The mare made it look easy. She’d make it look easier, though. ------ “You shouldn’t have encouraged her like that,” Shadowfang said. “What, I shouldn’t encourage our star protege?” Rainbow asked with a smirk. “And possibly the second most awesome flier I’ve ever seen? Heck, after that maybe we should just make her a Shadowbolt now.” “I’m not sure we should ever make her a Shadowbolt,” Shadowfang said. That made Rainbow come to such a sudden stop she almost fell over. She whipped around, looking him in the eyes. “What? Are you crazy? She did a sonic. Rainboom. There’s only one pony, now two, who can do that. She--” “She took out three windows, four other fliers and if I hadn’t been there would have sent a dozen young pegasi hurtling to the ground,” Shadowfang said. “She didn’t notice or possibly didn’t care. I don’t know which is worse.” “Wait, what?” Rainbow asked, her eyes narrowing. “What happened? I was on break like… a week. Now you want to kick her out?” “I’ve been flying with her,” Shadowfang said. “She pushes herself too hard.” “Uhhh, yeah? We’re the Shadowbolts. Kiiiiiind of like the Wonderbolts, remember? Pushing ourselves is kind of our thing,” Rainbow said with a snicker. The smile fell off her lips when she saw just how serious he looked. “I’m serious,” Shadowfang said. “She’s reckless. Incredibly. Whenever she flies, it’s like she has a death wish. She takes no precautions, at all. She’s talented, yes. But she’s going to get herself hurt flying like that.” “You sound like you’re talking about me,” Rainbow said. “No, I don’t,” Shadowfang said. “You’re a bit reckless, yes. But you’re not like that. You’ll push yourself as hard as you can, but you’re always keeping an eye out for everything around you. On top of that, you don’t put OTHER ponies in danger when you do it. That’s the second problem. I’ve been watching her. She demands perfection from herself and doesn’t seem to care if she gets herself killed trying to do it. But worse? She demands perfection from everypony else and if they can’t keep up, she doesn’t care if they get hurt when they get in her way.” Rainbow stared at him, her mouth falling open. Finally, she shook her head. “Okay, so its been a rough week. But let’s not kick her out just yet, okay? We’ve got a few weeks until the wedding, a ton of time to prepare. Besides, I only JUST got here. Maybe she’s been nervous or overdoing it because only one of her instructors were around. Besides, how often do we get a flier like her?” Shadowfang gave a sigh and shook his head. “Very rarely, but--” “Exactly. Besides, you trained with me,” Rainbow said. “After that, any other pony should seem easy. There’s no way we can just let her go now.” “Fine,” Shadowfang said. “Just be careful, okay? She’ll get you hurt if you’re not careful.” “Please, it’s me,” Rainbow said. “The number of pegasi who can outfly me can’t be counted on one hoof. Because there aren’t any.” Shadowfang just rolled his eyes. “Sure. Just please, be careful. I… want to check on some things anyway.” “Oh? What?” Rainbow asked. “I heard Discord is here,” Shadowfang said. “I want to make sure he’s not connected in any way to our student suddenly… well… being able to do that. I knew she was practicing it, but I didn’t think she was ready yet. Last time I saw her try she was still crashing into safety cloud.” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, you mean… you think she used some kind of magic or something?” “I don’t know,” Shadowfang said. “But I’m planning to find out. I’m hoping I’m just being paranoid on that front, though.” Rainbow nodded, though she couldn’t help but eye Shadowfang. He really did seem suspicious of Lightning, though she couldn’t understand why. She was just an awesome flier, what was wrong with that? Besides, she had no intention of letting her new student just get kicked out like that. Especially not after showing off THAT. Awesomeness like that could NOT go to waste. ------ Gilda didn’t understand it. She didn’t eat in here, she didn’t have a lot of stuff. Aside from the occasional game of cards she didn’t do much in their tent. Yet, somehow, the tent seemed like a horrible, filthy mess. Sure, it was mostly just pieces of dirty uniform she’d tossed on the ground, or bandages, or feathers, or-- Okay, so it did make sense. It didn’t make her any happier when she moved through her tent, tossing things in the trash or wash bin. How her tentmate managed to keep his side of the tent so clean only made it more annoying. He couldn’t eat a cinnamon roll without ending up covered hoof to tail in icing, but apparently he couldn’t even leave one bandage on the floor like a normal tentmate. “You shouldn’t salute Smooth like that,” Gilda said. “You’ll give her ideas.” “She is our commanding officer,” Thorax said. “Aren’t we supposed to?” “Technically yes, but no,” Gilda said. “She’s also a flank. If you show her too much respect, it might go to her head.” “I don’t understand,” Thorax said. “You’ll understand one day,” Gilda said. “But I am supposed to salute the captain, right?” Thorax asked. “Oh, yes,” Gilda said. “She’ll probably kill us if we don’t. Still worried about her?” “I… don’t know,” Thorax said softly. “It just… felt weird.” “You said that before,” Gilda said. “How about trying to explain it to somebody who can’t, for example, taste emotions?” “It’s like there was nothing… there,” Thorax said. “There were a few flashes of annoyance, but that was it.” “I think we all get flashes of annoyance from Smooth,” Gilda said. “So what? She’s probably undergoing some kind of weird stress-management thing. She did almost die like… three times. And took wayyyyy too many of those potions of Ash’s. I still have a few feathers that pop like tiny firecrackers when they fall out.” “No, not calm,” Thorax said. “It was like… there was nothing. I’ve tasted calm. But this was… different. It was like there wasn’t even a pony there. It was like…” He frowned and tapped his chin. “It’s like… if you light a fire and then it goes out? The smoke kind of lingers in the air? It was like that. Occasional whiffs of smoke, but no fire anymore.” “So, what, you think she WAS mad and just isn’t now?” Gilda asked. “Or maybe she’s not a pony at all, a changeling?” “I… I don’t know,” Thorax said. “But it wasn’t like a changeling, either. Maybe it’s because I’m like this now. The two of us had to ummmm… connect really… strongly. If that makes sense? In order to make something else feel what she felt. Maybe it’s because of that. I didn’t do that before. It used to be only about eating love, not giving it. It’s… different now.” Gilda gave a soft shudder. “So like, your minds are one or something? Emotions are one? Something like that?” “Maybe,” Thorax said. “Sorry. I’m probably worrying about nothing.” “Probably,” Gilda said before glancing at him. Despite the fact he SHOULD have just been helping her clean the tent, he kept looking out the exit. She finally rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed grunt. “Since it seems I’m not going to be getting much help out of you until we figure this out, why don’t we go talk with Red Heart. If anything’s up, she’d know.” “Okay!” Thorax said excitedly before dashing out of the tent. Gilda rolled her eyes. She swore some days she didn’t know if she wanted to swat the bug with a fly swatter or just pat him on the head. She followed after him none the less. The sooner they put his mind at ease, the sooner she could avoid having to do who knew how many laps due to messy tent. Or worse, late night sentry duty.