//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: What happened? // Story: Adventures of Blaze // by Lightning-Blaze //------------------------------// When Lightning finally woke up, he looked around. He was a little nervous because he didn’t recognize where he was. He was in a bed, and was wearing a white nightgown-type shirt. As he continued to try and look for clues that would reveal his location, he spotted Dash, Aperture, and Luna talking to… a nurse? Suddenly, it hit him; he was in the hospital in Canterlot. He tried to remember exactly what happened in the race the day before, but he couldn’t remember anything about yesterday. It was as if yesterday never happened. Dash, Aperture, and Luna cantered over him after talking with the nurse pony. “Dash! Aperture! Princess Luna! Boy, am I glad to see you,” Lightning said with a smile on his face. “It’s great to see you too. You look like you’re getting better!” Aperture replied. “What happened?” Lightning asked. “Well, you passed out. After the race,” Dash answered. Lightning looked up at the pegasus with confusion. “Passed out? What do you mean?” “Lightning during the race, you managed to catch up to me. I still don’t know HOW you did that, I’ve never seen anypony move that fast…” “But that’s not all.” Aperture gave Dash a nudge. “What is it? What happened?” Lightning asked. ‘When you were at my side, I noticed that your wings were… I mean, they looked like they were encased in lightning. And you didn’t seem to feel it,” Dash explained. “Oh… that. I have to tell you guys something.” Lightning said. “Yes, please do,” Aperture added, “Even as a scientist, I’m lost.” Lightning took a deep breath, and then began: “Okay, when I was a young colt, I had always had a fascination with lightning; I found that it soothed me when I was ever angry, or sad. It just calmed me down, and it seemed to speak to me on an emotional level. Still does. But one day… something happened… and I was hit by lightning. Ever since then, I feel like there’s electricity coursing through my blood, and whenever I get nervous, it seems to come out and take over my body.” “What happened? When did this start?” Aperture asked. “It happened when I…I…I saw my mother and father get murdered by the brutal Seventh Sanctum,” Lightning replied, trying his hardest to fight back the tears in his eyes “The Seventh Sanctum?” Aperture asked. Luna stopped her student. “Please Aperture, let’s not interrogate our friend. Now, Lightning, are you comfortable with telling us what happened?” Lightning nodded took a second to gather his emotions, and then started, “It was a peaceful day; my family and I were out having a day together when…something happened. All I heard was screams. None of my siblings had a clue what was happening. That’s when I saw them—the Seventh Sanctum were holding my mother and father down. One of them pulled out a knife. They killed my father first. My mother saw us, and… and she told us to run. Those Seventh Sanctum thugs saw us and started chasing after me and my siblings. “They were about to grab hold of me, I was suddenly struck by lightning. I don’t remember much of what happened, but when it happened, it got so bright that it managed to stun the Seventh Sanctum and my siblings and I got away—me with remarkable speed. “That’s how I got this ability. It’s only on rare occasions that this happens, and yesterday was only the second time it happened.” Lightning finished his story. Aperture couldn’t hold in his question anymore, “And who is this Seventh Sanctum?” This time Luna replied, “The Seventh Sanctum… they are the brutes that Celestia and I had to imprison because they were a threat to everypony. They did many things, but one of the worst things they did was living pony sacrifices. They are an evil cult, and we worked hard to make sure they never see another living pony outside of their prisons.” “It’s great to know that they’re imprisoned now,” Lightning replied. “So now I have a question of my own; what happened to me after the race?” Dash was quick to answer Lightning, “After the race, Twilight Sparkle alerted us to the fact that your were unconscious and not moving.” “Who’s Twilight Sparkle?” Lightning asked. “She is Princess Celestia’s apprentice, and a really good friend of mine,” Dash said. “Oh, and that reminds me—after you get better, Twilight wants you to come to Ponyville to see her.” “That’s sounds great… but I would also like Aperture to come on the tour as well,” Lightning said as he looked over to his friend. “Is that ok with you, Rainbow Dash?” Aperture asked. “I don’t see why not… I’ll show you both the different places around Ponyville!” Dash replied eagerly. “Thank you Dash!” Aperture and Lightning replied in unison. Luna looked out the window, and noticed how low the sun was in the sky. “Aperture, I need to go back to the castle and raise the moon. When you are done talking to Lightning, please come back.” And with that, Luna disappeared in a flash of blue smoke. “How is it for you being Princess Luna’s apprentice Aperture?” Lightning asked. “It’s going very well, I’m learning a lot!” Aperture replied. “Oh, and before I forget, I have a group of friends that are willing to meet you.” “Really?” Aperture asked. “Yeah, they are some of my best friends and I believe they will be great friends to you too” Lightning told his friend, who was smiling wider than Lightning ever saw him smile. “This is great! I can’t wait to meet them!” Aperture said with excitement on his face. Lightning started to think about his friends. He was wondering how they were doing because he hadn’t seen them in over a year. All he knows was that Kestrel was still living at Cloudsdale and that he was being trained to be a Wonderbolt by Crimson Thunder. Lightning looked over to Dash and asked, “Do you know a Wonderbolt trainer named Crimson Thunder?” Crimson Thunder was the famous Wonderbolt-turned-flight-trainer that was responsible for teaching most of the current Wonderbolts; in fact, his last protégé was Rainbow Dash herself. He also happened to be Lightning’s brother. Dash was busy thinking about what she would show the two in Ponyville and missed most of the ongoing conversation. However, when she heard this name, she snapped out of her trance; she was shocked and asked, “Of course I do! How do you know him?” Lightning replied, “Well, he’s kinda… my brother.’ “Crimson’s— you mean that you…oh my gosh, I never would have guessed! Your brother is Crimson…” Dash said, awestruck. “I’ve heard a lot about this Crimson Thunder, that he was one of the best Wonderbolts. I never knew that you two were related, though. What’s he like?” Aperture asked. “He is the best Wonderbolt teacher in all of Equestria! He trained all of the legendary Wonderbolts when they were younger and he even got to teach Dash!” Lightning replied. “He’s really nice, but you probably don’t know much about him, Dash. When he teaches, it’s like he’s a different pony—like a drill sergeant.” “You sure got that right!” Dash chimed in. “But when he isn’t teaching, he’s friendly, sociable, and kind of a prankster.” After getting over her initial shock, Dash had the chance to say, “I can’t believe that Crimson is your brother. I should have known, he was always talking about his little brother…” Just as Lightning was about to answer, he noticed that another pegasus just walked into the room. He looked very closely and noticed that it was his brother. His brother’s body was an electric blue colour but his mane and tail were crimson red. His cutie mark was a winged lightning bolt, which matched the Wonderbolt logo perfectly. That was how he knew he was destined to be the greatest Wonderbolt in history. “Crimson! It’s great to see you!” Lightning shouted. Crimson smiled kindly at his brother. “It’s great to see you as well, brother. Especially after so long.” “How’s life in Cloudsdale?” Lightning asked. “Haha, it’s great, there are a lot of pegasi there that have the potential to become Wonderbolts one day, and I’m keeping really busy training them all!” Crimson replied with a laugh. “Wow… Crimson, I would like you to meet Aperture,” Lightning replied, motioning over to the pony on the other side of the bed. Aperture was so amazed that there was an ex-Wonderbolt in the room that he didn’t realize that he was being introduced. Lightning reached out and shook his friend to grab his attention. Crimson looked at Aperture and said, “It is a pleasure to meet you Aperture. Any friend of Lightning’s is a friend of mine!” Aperture replied, “It is a pleasure to meet you too.” “Thank you, but I should be getting Lightning home after what happened. I don’t think he’ll be able to do anything else for the rest of the day and I know I could take care of my brother better if I took him back to my house. Besides, the doctors are still trying to figure out where the lightning came from!” After Crimson said that, Aperture left to report back to Luna in the Canterlot palace. Dash went back to hanging out with the other Wonderbolts and Crimson took Lightning home so he could rest and get back to full health.