//------------------------------// // It Begins // Story: Secrets Long Kept // by ZillaBrony13 //------------------------------// Before she saw Rainbow struck by lightning, Twilight thought she had seen everything. She had faced Nightmare Moon, faced a dragon, died at the hands of a cocatrice, defeated Discord, faced an army of Changlings, helped Spike save the Crystal Empire, and even seen Celestia raise the sun. But even in her wildest dreams she had nver thought to see a pegasus being struck by lightning. And yet it was the start of many weird things to come. It all started one cool spring morning, when she was running for her life through Ponyville. She panted with exhaustion but she knew she had to keep running. She wasn’t running from anything, rather she was running to somewhere. She had just remembered, thanks to Spike, that she was supposed to be at a field on the outskirts of town to watch Rainbow do some tricks she had learned at the Wonderbolts Academy. “Please don’t let me be late! Please don’t let me be late! She chanted over and over in her head. She passed Lyra and Bon-Bon who waved, but she ignored them. Her thoughts flashed back to last week, when she had pinkie promised Rainbow she would be there. She knew that Pinkie knew and that if she wasn’t there well…she didn’t want to think about it. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the gray mare falling out of the sky. Ditzy Doo flew into her hard and the two mares tumbled to the ground in a mess of limbs. "Derpy! watch where your going!"She yelled. Derpy looked at her but didn't seem to register that Twilight had just yelled at her. "Sorry Twilight! Where're you going?" Derpy asked. Her eyes were crooked as usual and they looked at Twilight with concern. "To Fluttershy's," Twilight responded "I'm going to watch Rainbow do some tricks. Wanna come?" "Na. I'm going to jump on some clouds. See you around?" "Sure. See you tommarow." Little did she know, is that she would see Derpy again sooner than she thought. She galloped through town until she reached the open field by Fluttershy’s cottage. She saw that they hadn’t started and to say she was relieved would have been an understatement. She technically wasn’t late. “Hi girls!” She called out. “Hi Twilight!” Pinkie responded. She looked bouncy and cheerful, as always. Suddenly, her eyes filled with fire and her voice changed to one of malice. “I thought you weren’t going to make for a second. That would have made me very…mad. Nopony breaks a pinkie promise.” Then just as suddenly, her hair inflated back up and she became cheerful again. Twilight shuddered inwardly. That voice always creeped her out. “Well I’m here, as I promised.” She said nervously, Pinkies’ voice still unnerving her. Then Rarity asked "Twilight darling, why didn't you just telaport here?" Twilight rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I guess it didn't occur to me. Though it would have benn faster." The others looked at her with faces that said 'Duh?' She turned,still blushing embarrassedly to Rainbow. “So Rainbow, what tricks will you be doing for us today?” Rainbow smiled confidently.“Why tell you when I can show you?” With that the blue pegasus flew straight up into the clouds. Dash did corkscrews, flips, steep dives and tricks that Twilight couldn’t identify. While she did, the others talked about their families, jobs, and generally what had happened while they were apart. “I’m almost halfway done with buckin' the apple orchard,” Applejack told them, “At the speed I’m goin’ I’ll be done before the season is over.” “But um, you do have somepony helping you…don’t you?” Rarity asked almost pleadingly. Memories of the last incident came to the other's mind.Rainbow launched into the library, dozens of ponies in the hospital from bad muffins, and a stampede of bunnies eating all of the flowers in town. Applejack looked offended. “Of course! Y’all thought I didn’t learn from last time? Big Mac and Apple Bloom are helping me.” The girls sighed in relief. “Just had to make sure darling,” Rarity said. She then turned to Twilight. “So Twilight, what have you been doing in that library of yours?” “Celestia gave me something to research. She gave me several books on Gods.” At the others puzzled looks she explained, “Beings that control a certain aspect of life, like how Celestia raises the sun and Luna raises the moon. But I don’t really know why she gave the books to me. According to the books, Gods are the stuff of myths.” “Well, I’m sure she works in your best interests.” Rarity reassured her, “Maybe she wanted you to research them to get more acquainted with Equestria’s lore and legends. Maybe she wanted to teach you something that was ut of the ordinary.” While they talked, Fluttershy watched Rainbow spiraling above. She looked in awe, but soon her expression changed to confusion. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing. The others turned. There on a black thundercloud, bounced Derpy Hooves. “Oh that’s just Ditzy Doo being herself.” Twilight responded. Fluttershy turned to look at Rainbow and her expression changed again, but this time to horror. Twilight looked as well. As soon as she did, she paled in fright. If Rainbow continued her current path she would fly underneath the cloud. With the fact that the cloud was black and that Derpy was bouncing on it, a thunderbolt would be created and if it struck Rainbow….“No,” Twilight muttered, “No, no, no, no, no, RAINBOW NO!” But Dash couldn’t hear her. Rainbow flew under the cloud just as Derpy impacted it. KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM Brighter than the noonday sun, and like a hammer falling from on high, a lightning bolt struck the blue Pegasus in a flash of white light.