Chapter 3 - School and Fillynappers
On the first day of school, Lightning walked into the small schoolhouse with the enthusiastic teacher, Ms. Cheerilee. “Settle down class! We have a new student from Lightning Crack! He’s from Manehattan!”
“Hi everypony!” Lightning waved as he looked for Sweetie Belle. Lightning found her at a window seat and sat in the desk next to hers. “Hey!” Sweetie whispered as she slipped a note to him. He was reaching for the letter when suddenly. “Lightning! Pay attention!” Cheerilee scolded. A filly in the back snickered. “Tell me what 7 x 4 equals!” Cheerilee challenged. “28!” He responded faster than anypony could think possible. He also answered every other question Cheerilee threw at him.
At recess Lightning found a tree and lied down under it. He was exhausted from thinking.
Two fillies noticed him and started to walk to him.
"Look what we have here... A new blank flank!" said the one he recognized as Diamond Tiara.
"Watch it. You used to be one too." Lightning responded calmly.
"Ooh... He really is smart!" said the other filly, Silver Spoon.
"Looks more like a mule... What's with the ugly coat anyway? Are you cold?" Diamond mocked.
"I don't know... Aren't you hot wearing your ass on your head? Cause you stink!" he said calmly.
Diamond had run out of insults, “Come on Silver! Let’s go talk to somepony cool!”
“Wait for me! Silver yelled running after her friend.
“Wow! You’re right Sweetie Belle! He is fast!” A familiar southern rural voice came from a bush nearby.
“Hi Applebloom... I suppose Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are in there too?” Lighting said without lifting his head.
“…And perceptive!” Scootaloo shouted as she jumped out along with the Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.
“And sort of dreamy...” Sweetie whispered to herself as she walked out of the bush.
“Hey Lightnin’! My cousin’ Babs is from Manehattan’ too! You wa-” Applebloom started to talk but Sweetie Belle interrupted.
“You wanna join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?!” She asked excitedly
“Ummm... What’s the Cutie Mark Crew Taters?” Lightning asked curiously.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders! It’s a group dedicated to finding our cutie marks!” Scootaloo explained as if Lightning were stupid.
“Ummm... I guess?” He responded reluctantly still unsure if it was a good or bad idea.
“YAY!” Applebloom Cheered as she jumped into the bush again and returned with a large Fire Red cape (See what I did there?) with a logo that consisted of a shield and a yellow earth pony outline.
“It’s a little large; sorry about that... try it on!” Sweetie Belle demanded excitedly.
“Oh... ummm... I can’t take off my coat... I ermmm... get self conscious!” Lightning lied quickly trying to hide his small alicorn wings.
“Oh... I know! What to do!” Sweetie yelled as she took the cape and ran off. She came back a few minutes later, with something else. A cloak!
“Wow! Thanks Sweetie-” He turned to look at her. She was heavily blushing. He ran behind a tree and put the cloak on.
“It fits perfectly!” Scootaloo said happily.
After school, Lightning was walking home from school when Sweetie Belle jumped up behind him! “Hey there Lightning! Wanna go see the CMC Headquarters?!” She asked instantly at the startled filly. Before Lightning could respond, a masked pony jumped out with a long pipe in his hoof.
“Fillynapper! Somepony help!” Sweetie Belle screamed. Nobody was around except for a knocked out guard. Lightning thought quickly. He used his magic to pull a sword out of the unconscious guard’s sheath.
“What are you doing?!” Sweetie Bell yelled, clearly terrified of the pony with the sword.
“Yeah! What do you think you’re doing? Playing Hero? This is the real thing Squirt!” the pony said in a gruff voice.
“I’m protecting my friend and me from you, Jerk!” Lightning yelled bravely.
“Oh! Let’s see how well you ‘protect’ mare friend when i cut off your head kid!” The thug said mockingly as he swung at Lightning.
“You’d be surprised Punk!” Lightning said coolly as he ducked the swing. The colt took another swing straight down the middle of Lightning as Sweetie Belle screamed for him. Lightning calmly stepped aside and let the pipe miss. The pony finally caught on and took a mighty swing to Lightning’s front knees! Lightning nimbly jumped up and landed on the flat of the pipe, running up the colt’s arm and jumped on top of the colt’s head.
“Wha-!?” the masked pony yelled confused. Lightning raised his sword and hit the colt hard with the hilt, stunning him. Lightning saw a chain and wrapped it tightly around the confused and dizzy colt. He grabbed the sheath of the sword and took Sweetie by the hoof and whispered, “Run!”, and they ran as fast as they could possibly run! Sweetie guided Lightning into a forest.
“Where are we going?” Lightning panted while running.
“You’ll see!” Sweetie Belle said determination in her voice.
They ran into a clearing, where Lightning saw small tree house with stairs leading up to it. The sign in front said “CMC HQ! No trespassing unless it’s important! Violators will be forced to tell their cutie mark story” They rushed inside the clubhouse. Nopony was around. They waited for what seemed like an hour.
“So where did that come from?! Where’d you learn to do that?!” Sweetie Belle asked in a demanding tone.
“I don’t know... it just kinda just happened. I don't know how or why it happened but I like it! It saved our life and I don’t care where it came from!” he lied not wanting to talk about his past. Her face softened as she leaned closer to him.
“Sort of like you?” she asked him seductively. He got the message and grinned as he inched closer.
“Something like that...” he whispered.
Their noses were barely touching when the door swung open and Applebloom and Scootaloo appeared covered in mud.
“I told you mud boarding wasn't a thing!” Applebloom yelled at Scootz
“It’s a thing! I saw rainbow dash doing it yesterday!” Scootaloo argued. Then they looked across the room to see the two fillies huddling on the other side of the room.
“What happened to you two?” Applebloom asked, noticing their hair all mussed up.
“That’s so cool!” Scootaloo screamed after Lightning filled them in.
“Maybe your cutie mark is fighting!” Applebloom wondered as she finished building the stand for the “Cutie Blade”.
“Ummm... can I keep the sword? I want to practice with it later tonight.” he lied, not wanting them to hurt themselves with it when nobody was around.
“Sure! You are the Fighter after all.” Applebloom said.
Back at Twilight’s Library, after filling her and spike them in for a second time, Twilight said, “Wow! What a big day!”
“Cool! Can I see the sword?!” Spike asked anxiously.
“NO!” They both yelled in unison.
“Fine...” grumbled Spike.
“Twilight, can I talk to you... in private?” Lightning asked
“Sure” Twilight said.
After Spike went upstairs, Twilight asked what was up. Lightning said “I have something to show you. Promise you won’t freak out or tell anypony!”
“Of course I won't! What is it?” She asked curiously. Lightning took off his cloak. Twilight gasped in amazement, “You’re a... an... a- alicorn! Incredible! Now I know why you always wear that muddy coat... I can talk to Rarity to make you something nicer later...”
“Really? You would do that?” Lightning asked thankfully.
“Of course I would! That coat is getting too small for you anyway!” She explained.
“Thank you so much!” Lightning cried.
“Don’t thank me, thank Rarity!” Twilight said.