It was another beautiful day in Equestria. Aperture was practicing
his magic and Dash was trying out a new trick for part of the
Wonderbolt routine. As for Lightning, he was still asleep in his bed
until Crimson introduced a bucket of water to his face. Lightning
shot up from his sleep to see Crimson rolling on the floor.
Lightning asked, “What are you laughing at brother?” He was still
so tired he didn’t noticing that his mane and face was wet.
Crimson replied, “Oh, it’s nothing,” trying his hardest not to laugh
even louder.
Lightning shifted in his bed when he noticed a few water
droplets go past his eyes. He lifted up his hoof and touched his
mane. “Wait…what, was that you? Did you splash water in my
face?”
“Well…I had to wake you up one way or another,” Crimson
answered in between laughs.
“So you decided to use ice cold water?”
“Yeah, pretty much!”
“Why did you wake me up anyway?”
Crimson replied, “Well…I need to see if you have gotten back
to full health. You seem to be fine, except for some excessive
sweatiness!” He fell back to the floor laughing.
“Oh yeah, haha. So now what?” asked Lightning as he rolled out of
the bed.
“I’ll need to see how far you’ve recovered… I think the best way to
do that is to have a little race. What do you say, little brother?”
Lightning replied, “No doubt that I will win.”
Crimson gave his brother a smirk. “Oh really? Then let’s see how
great you are.”
“See you outside in a bit, got to go dry my mane because
SOMEPONY splashed water on my face!”
Lightning bringing up his wet mane again made Crimson burst out
in laughter and he replied, “See you outside soon, brother.”
After a few minutes passed, Lightning was finally ready to race his
brother. He flew outside to meet up with Crimson for the race and
asked, “So, where exactly are we racing to?”
Crimson replied, “I was thinking that we race to the Rainbow
Factory and back to here.”
Lightning replied, “Okay, just try and keep up!”
“I see you still have your competitive edge.”
“Well yeah, most of the time I can be competitive. You have to be
when you’re a Wonderbolt!”
“Okay, I guess you’re ready.”
“Of course I am.”
“Then let’s start… on your marks… get set… go!” and with that
both Lightning and Crimson shot off. Both of them were great
flyers, neither one of them knew who was going to win.
The two pegasi were neck and neck, and neither of them wanted
to lose. Suddenly, Crimson dove under the clouds. But Lightning
would not be distracted, he was determined to win! Besides, if
Crimson was planning on taking the long way, then he would—A
puff of smoke hit Lightning square in the muzzle. Crimson came
back up ahead of Lightning.
“What’s wrong, baby brother, did I hurt you?” Crimson said as he
turned around and flew off to the Rainbow Factory.
That punk! Lightning thought to himself. But he wasn’t about to let
his brother win so easily. He flew off behind his brother, and tried
to catch up to him before he made it to the Rainbow Factory.
Approaching the Rainbow Factory fast, Crimson was afraid that
this race was going to be too easy. He decided to add a challenge
be weaving through the cloud pillar of the factory. Halfway through
the factory, he felt a tap on his left wing. He looked over. Nothing.
He looked to his right. Lightning was right there!
“Hey bro, what’s up?” Lightning asked as he smacked him right
into a cloud pillar. POOF! Crimson was stuck.
Now that Crimson had been taken care of, Lightning easily made
his way back to the finish line. Even when Crimson caught up,
Lightning had tired his brother out enough to take the win.
Lightning beat Crimson by a few seconds. They both carefully
lowered themselves down to the ground. Lightning said, “I told you
I would beat you, cheater!” Crimson was breathing heavily, but
managed to say, “You’re the cheater! But anyway, how do you
feel?”
“A little tired, but other than that, I feel fine! What time is it?”
Lightning asked.
“Good, good… oh, and it’s about noon.”
“Wait…what?”
“It’s noon,” Crimson repeated.
“Damn it!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Remember when Dash said she would give me and Aperture a
tour of Ponyville?”
“Um…yeah?” Crimson replied.
“Well, I’m supposed to meet Dash and Aperture at noon and now
I’m late,” Lightning replied anxiously.
“You best get going then; don’t want to keep your girlfriend
waiting!” Crimson responded with a snicker.
“Thanks, I’ll see you later, and she’s not my girlfriend!” And with
that Lightning sped off to go and meet up with Dash and Aperture.
On the way there he couldn’t help but wonder if Aperture and
Dash would be annoyed with him if he was late. Would Dash make
him train harder? What would happen with his and Aperture’s
newfound friendship? He reached the centre of the village where
Dash and Aperture were waiting.
“Hey Dash, hey Aperture. Sorry I kept you waiting, had to do
something before I got here.”
“I didn’t mind waiting,” Aperture replied.
“Just a question, what did you have to do that was so important?”
Dash asked.
“I was racing my brother Crimson,” Lightning replied.
“I thought I saw two pegasi racing around,” Dash commented.
“Yeah, and then I realized I was late and had to rush here,”
Lightning said in an apologetic tone.
“Did you win?”
“Yes, of course I did!”
“Then that’s all that matters!” Dash exclaimed with a wink. “Now,
let’s get on with the tour!”
“This is the town centre,” as Dash gestured towards the centre that
was full of ponies hanging out and talking to each other.
Aperture and Lightning then followed Dash to a shop called “Sugar
Cube Corner.” They walked inside to be greeted by a lovely smell
of cakes and pies and confectionaries; it was truly something that
couldn’t be forgotten, it was the sort of smell that makes you want
to just stand inside and not move at all. Just then a pink pony
came out of nowhere and started to bounce around Aperture and
Lightning.
Dash called out, “Pinkie Pie, will you calm down?”
“Pinkie Pie, I think I remember you… were you the pink pony I saw
at the beginning of the race?” Lightning replied.
“Yup! She’s the one and only!” Dash replied.
“So what do you do then Pinkie?” Aperture asked.
“Well…whenever there are new ponies in town, I always greet
them and throw them a party,” Pinkie informed them with sheer
excitement on her face. “Oh, and that reminds me!” She reached
behind the counter and grabbed a box. “Go ahead and open it!”
Lightning slowly opened the box. Confetti blasted out onto his
face. Inside was two enormous slices of cake that Lightning
assumed was for him and Aperture. On each slice was written in
frosting; “Welcome to Ponyville!”
“Wow, we should have that party someday!” Aperture replied.
‘Yeah, we will, silly! But Rainbow Dash told me that you two were
REEEEEALLY busy with the tour, so we can’t do it today, unless
we do it at night time, but if we do it at night time, then ponies
might accidentally fall asleep which would not be fun, because
then some mischievious ponies might draw on their face, or steal
their slice of cake—Can you imagine?” Pinkie gasped at the
though.
“Hey, Pinkie Pie, aren’t you working on something?”
“OHMYGOSH you’re right! Gotta go!” Then as fast as Pinkie Pie
appeared, she disappeared without anyone knowing.
“Right, well that was…strange…” Aperture said
“Where are we off to next?” asked Lightning.
“Next we’ll go to Sweet Apple Acres!” Dash replied.
They walked out of the shop and headed to Sweet Apple Acres.
On the way there, Lightning and Aperture started to chat to each
other.
Aperture said, “So, what do you think about that Pinkie Pie?”
Lightning replied, “I don’t know, but the smell in the shop was
absolutely amazing. I didn’t even want to leave but we have the
tour to do.”
“I’m just happy to be learning about Ponyville, this tour is helping
me a lot.” “It is really interesting.”
Finally, Dash, Aperture, and Lightning reached Sweet Apple Acres.
Lightning and Aperture noticed that in the centre of the huge apple
orchard was a big red barn.
“This is where Applejack and her brother Big Mac live. Some more
good friends of mine!” Dash said.
“I’ve read about this place…this is where all the apples come from
then?” Aperture asked.
“Sure is!” came a voice behind them.
Just then an orange pony trotted out of the orchard and started
coming towards Lightning and Aperture.
“Howdy there newcomers!” AJ said with excitement. “And what are
your names?”
Aperture was the first to reply. “My name is Aperture.”
“That’s a strange name for a pony, but pleasure to meet ya!” AJ
replied as she shook his hoof.
Lightning introduced himself next. “My name is Lightning
Blaze, but I prefer to be called Lightning.”
“I guess your job has something to do with lightning?” AJ asked.
“You can say that…” Lightning replied slyly.
Just then a red pony trotted out of the barn towing a cart full of
apples. As he walked past he told AJ that he was taking the apples
to the town centre.
“Before you go Big Mac, I’d like you to meet Aperture and
Lightning,” AJ replied.
“Howdy!” Big Mac replied looking like he wanted to go to sleep.
“This is my brother Nicolas Macintosh but most folk call him Big
Mac,” AJ said.
“It’s great to meet you Big Macintosh!” said Aperture.
“Eeyup.”
Big Mac then continued with pulling the cart of apples towards the
town centre. AJ waved goodbye to Aperture and Lightning as they
set off to the next part of the tour.
“Where are we off to now?” Aperture asked.
Dash replied, “Now we are going to the library.”
“Great!” Aperture replied.
On the way to the library, they went passed a clothes shop.
Outside the shop was a white unicorn with a long purple mane.
“Oh, guys, that’s Rarity. She is Ponyville’s best fashion designer.
If we are lucky, we’ll be able to go over and talk to her, if she’s not
busy”, Dash explained. She trotted over to her. “Hey, Rarity!”
“Hello there Rainbow Dash. Who are your new friends?” Rarity
asked as she gestured towards Lightning and Aperture.
Lightning and Aperture overheard Rarity ask Dash who they were,
so they went over to introduce themselves.
Aperture was the first to introduce himself. “Hello, Rarity, my name
is Aperture. I am Princess Luna’s apprentice and a scientist pony.”
“Charmed! And who are you?”
“My name is Lightning Blaze but I prefer to be called Lightning.
I’m the newest wonderbolt.”
Rarity replied, “Wonderbolt, that’s exciting! Well, it’s a pleasure to
meet both of you.”
“We better get on with the rest of the tour.” Dash commented.
“Okay,” Lightning and Aperture replied.
As they were leaving, Rarity said, “Lightning, Aperture, come
back her anytime if you want something designing or if you want a
makeover.”
“We’ll think about it…” Aperture called back.
After they finally set off from visiting the clothes shop and a few
more minutes later, Dash, Aperture and Lightning finally got to the
library.
As they walked inside, Aperture’s face lit up; there were books
everywhere! They were perfectly organized and stacked on
shelves. He thought to himself, I could really learn a lot about
Equestria here. Around the corner they found a purple pony with a
purple and pink mane was stacking shelves using her magic.
Dash called out her name; “Hey there, Twilight!”
Twilight replied, “Hey Dash, how’s the life of being a Wonderbolt?”
“Oh, it’s great being a Wonderbolt! It’s even better now that we
have a younger Wonderbolt joining us,” Dash answered as she
gestured towards Lightning.
“This is the Wonderbolt who had a race against you…are you
feeling okay?” Twilight asked.
‘Yeah, he feels great! This kid is tough, one of the toughest fliers
I’ve seen… besides myself!” Dash replied.
“Thanks,” Lightning replied, trying to hide a blush.
Aperture noticed that Lightning was trying to hide a blush. Why
was he blushing? It wasn’t hot in here, and he wasn’t sick, so it
must be—
“Lightning, do you like Dash or something?” Aperture whispered.
“What? No…maybe. I’ll tell you later. Keep it a secret for a bit, I will
tell her later. I don’t want her finding out, though, okay?”
“Ok, I promise that I will keep it a secret.” Aperture replied.
“Thank you,” Lightning said, as the two turned back to the
conversation they were having before.
After that Aperture and Lightning were glad that Dash hadn’t
overheard their quiet conversation. Dash was too busy catching up
with Twilight that neither of the mares noticed. After catching up,
Dash turned to Lightning and said, “Lightning, you know that
Twilight was the one who alerted us that you had passed out.”
Lightning replied, “Yeah… thank you again Twilight.”
Twilight replied. “You’re welcome. Lightning would you be able to
come back soon so I can find out what happened to you.”
“Yeah, I will come back soon”, Lightning replied.
“So are we ready to go on with the next part of the tour?” Aperture
asked.
“Yeah, the next place we are going to is Fluttershy’s animal rescue
and care centre. You’ve met Fluttershy before, too Lightning!”
Dash told the other pegasus.
“Okay, lead the way!” Aperture replied.
Dash, Aperture and Lightning left the library and headed towards
Fluttershy’s animal care home. When they finally got there,
Aperture and Lightning noticed a cottage wrapped in ivy and
completely let out for nature.
“This is Fluttershy’s house. She takes care of the animals here,
and she uses it as an animal rescue and care centre for all the
animals here,” Dash explained.
They looked in the house and noticed that it was full of a wide
range of animals—from bunnies and birds to fish and even snakes.
From behind Dash, Aperture and Lightning they heard a quiet
voice. “Hello Rainbow Dash and Lightning. And who is this?” as
she gestured to Aperture very shyly.
“My name is Aperture.”
“You’re…you’re the one who I heard is really good at using magic.”
“Yeah, that’s me! It is great to meet you,” Aperture replied. This
seemed to make Fluttershy feel a bit better and she managed to
smile back.
“There is one more place for us to go to on this tour,” Dash
added. “Meet me outside the library just before it gets dark and I’ll
show you.”
“Okay!” Lightning and Aperture replied.
Meanwhile… It was another dark day in the jail cell. He couldn’t
remember the last time he saw the sun. Even though he felt his
sanity leaving him every day, he couldn’t be calmer. Every day
that passed only meant that it was coming closer. The little hatch on
the bottom of the door slid open and a platter of cracked wheat slid through.
“Dinner,” came the voice from the other side.
A smile came to his face as he ate the food. Another day gone.
All this waiting would be worth it in the long run. He came up from
his food, and uttered one word; “Soon.”