Lightning, standing beside Twilight, locked eyes with Rainbow Dash. She was giving him the glare that he hated, the one that pried any secret he might have been harboring out from his conscience and into the world for all to know. She had to know that something was different with him; he had never been seen so giddy outside of a Wonderbolts race. Thankfully, the gracious Princess spoke up, taking away Rainbow's constrictive attention from Lightning's presence.
"You two know each other?" Twilight glanced from Lightning to the floating cyan mare, who then smirked widely.
"Oh, I know him alright. And before I tell you how we know each other, I'll just, uh...." She lowered he face, thinking intensely. "Be right back." She zipped into a blur of color toward Lightning and within moments, she had disappeared with him. A confused aura settled over the group of five, and they gathered together, waiting for Rainbow and Lightning to return.
"Who was that fella?" AJ inquired of Twilight casually.
"His name is Lightning. He crashed on my balcony, and I fixed him up with a spell." Twilight smiled, remembering her deeds, feeling good for being of service.
"Lightning crashed on yer balcony?" Applejack snickered at the thought. "Don't'cha think that's a little strange?"
"It does sound a little well-rehearsed, I must say." Rarity spoke up in her usual refined voice. "But, Dash seems to know him, so she can explain everything, I'm sure."
"He's a nice colt, I think. He must have some sort of blood pressure problem, though. His face got red a lot."
Rarity and Applejack exchanged glances, smiling, and Rarity nodded her head toward Spike with a giggle.
"He's nice alright," Pinkie Pie piped up, cutting off the suspicion from Applejack and Rarity, "and he's so COOL! I mean did you see his tail? It was like a lightning bolt too! Kinda like Dashie's cutie mark, really. I don't remember what his was. Do-" Rainbow returned and placed a hoof over Pinkie's mouth.
"Everyone," Rainbow spoke, holding back Pinkie's muffled excitement, "this is my cousin, Lightning."
Rainbow screeched to a halt down the street from Twilight's home. She let him down on all four hooves from her shoulder, and he punched her as he got his legs back underneath him. "At least give me some warning as to when you're gonna do that," Lightning snarled, holding his gut where the tackle had landed.
"Sorry, but I have to know what's going on." Rainbow wore a face that expected truth. What a shame that she wasn't going to get it... well, in its entirety.
"Okay, fine." He began to trot about, keeping his multicolored eyes focused on the earth he had trodden on; this was a tell-tale sign of his lying. "You spun me out, I landed on her balcony, she did some sort of magic to make me better, and now we're friends." He motioned to his bandages, hoping that would suffice for his previously discolored face.
"And the char marks?"
"Another lightning strike. I don't have any idea why. Maybe storms just like me?" Lightning shrugged, smiling sheepishly at his attempt in changing the subject.
"And you didn't plan any of this?"
"Not even a little." His pacing was forced to a halt as Rainbow eyed Lightning up and down, analyzing his every piece of being. After a moment, she responded.
"You do know that I'm the weather pony of weather ponies in Ponyville, right?"
"Yup." He nodded gauchely.
"I planned out a nice, sunny, summer day."
"Okay...?" Lightning didn't see where she was headed with this.
"You mean to tell me that a storm cloud came out of nowhere just to zap you?"
Horse feathers. She'd found a place for disbelief and she hadn't even spotted the right piece of the puzzle. Lightning relaxed, feeling relieved that he could tell total truth now.
"It was there! I ran through it, for Celestia's sake!" Rainbow donned her smirk again, arming herself with a conniving glare as Lightning pleaded his case. "This isn't Colter's Mountain. I wouldn't feel right messing with your weather anyway."
"You know, I'm thinking you're pulling a prank on Twilight," Rainbow accused him saucily, "and you don't want me to be in on it. Fine, I'll watch, but I want in on the last laugh." She nudged him with an accusatory hoof on his chest. "Enough messin' around. Let's go meet the rest of the gang, shall we?" Before Lightning had time to protest, Rainbow zoomed off into a blur. Lightning began to move his wings, but soon found that to be agitating to his existing pain. Mustering every ounce of strength he could, Lightning put every hoof into high gear to catch up. Rainbow came into view, along with the other four ponies and the little purple lizard. They stood patiently waiting for his arrival.
The pink pony had been silenced by Dash so she could introduce her unfortunate companion officially to them all. ""Everyone, this is my cousin, Lightning Flair. He's staying with me for a while in Ponyville, so help him feel welcome." She ended her introduction with a wink to her friends and nudged Lightning to do the same.
"Hiya!" Lightning perked up with a trademark salutation, trying to seem as pleasant as possible. Instances like these truly displayed his social awkwardness, so he had rehearsed a few lines to help him break the ice. He hadn't done it often, for he knew everyone around town back home. He'd already thanked Celestia countlessly in his mind that he survived his encounter with the Princess so easily. Another few normal ponies wouldn't be so hard, right?
Wrong. They started to give their names, and he wasn't good with names. As they rattled off each of their titles, he darted to and fro in his mind, etching every detail he could in stone. Rarity, huh? Makes dresses, has a... sister? Maybe that was Applejam. Applejack! That's it! No, wait, wasn't that the little sister's name? She didn't give me her little sister's name. The little thing is a dragon, not a lizard. Got it. Uh-huh... so Pink likes parties? And cake? And candy? Wow, she can talk fast. It's quiet now. Why is it so quiet? Lightning escaped his own mind trying to recall what was said.
"You okay?" Twilight addressed him, and he quickly righted himself. It seemed she was always looking out for him, and he had to start carrying his own weight.
"I'm alright, I just kinda spaced out. Sorry about that." His face ascended in hue as he spoke out of his rehearsed character. "What was the question?"
"Where ya from?" Applejack answered him cheerily.
"Oh, I'm from the mountains in North Marolina. I'm the leader of the weather ponies down there." He smiled as his embarrassment began to wear off.
"D'you know a stallion named Hybrid Apple? He's one'a them fancy botanist types down there." From that point, the group began to amble about Ponyville, every now and again being corralled by Rainbow.
"Yup, he and I work together on the zap apple harvest every year. Shocker, right?" Lightning smiled, hoping a pun or two would make him feel a little less edgy.
"Hehe, I guess I shoulda expected that. He's my...." She raised a hoof to her chin, occasionally scribbling a line in the air, thinking of the relation between them. "Well, he's definitely in the family tree, let's put it that way." She chuckled at her own naivety as she gave up her pursuit of thought.
"Hey!" Pinkie bounced over to him and prepared a battery of questions. "Why's your cutie mark a rainbow lightning bolt too? What's that all about?"
"Well," Lightning looked to his flank as he analyzed it. "It's a rainbow lightning bolt because I have a knack for attracting electricity. Plus, I'm fast - fast enough to compete with my bigheaded cousin." Dash shot a look of evil his way from above, and stuck her tongue out at him. Lightning laughed and continued his explanation. "It's a rainbow because, well... I like being handsome." He slicked back his mane and the group chuckled at his display.
"What about the eighth note, deary?" Rarity inquired of him, twinkling her eyelashes all the while.
"I like singing!" He perked up a cheery smile and cast it back to the white mare.
"How about a little song then?" She responded with a challenging wink.
"Uhhhh...." Lightning looked to his cousin floating above. Rainbow met his gaze, not understanding his predicament. After a moment, she realized his plight swooped in to save him.
"We don't have enough time, y'know." She sped over to Rarity and put a foreleg over her shoulder. "Fluttershy's waiting for us," Rainbow explained as she motioned to the yellow mare resting at the top of a nearby hill. She spun to meet Lightning's attention. "I organized a little picnic so they could all get to know you!" She winked and clicked her tongue at him.
"You didn't have to go to the trouble, Dash." A beam grew across his face as he thought of a nice meal to wind down from the day's events.
"Yeah, it was nothing." She returned the smile as she landed on the grass next to her pegasus friend. "By the way, this is Fluttershy. I have a feeling you and her will get along just fine."
"Hiya!" Lightning repeated his perky training with ease. A response of whispers could be heard faintly.
Lightning cocked his head. His perfect greeting hadn't worked? What... What now?
"I didn't mean to offend you, I'm sorry...." Lightning cast a hoof over his tightly closed eyes and tried with great care to not make eye contact or interaction in general.
Fluttershy looked from under her mane at him and felt a wave of guilt wash over her. "I'm sorry," Fluttershy spoke, rising to her hooves and motioning for all of them to join her. "It's just that I'm not so courageous, and I don't know you and I'm usually not this talkative, so I'll stop." She sat back down and began fidgeting with her forelegs.
The group took a place on the ground in a circle, and as luck would have it, Lightning sat between Rainbow and Twilight. Just try to be friendly, and you'll get through the day without any hitches. Act like you would at home, but not like you act all the time. Just be... nice. Be nice.
"So, everyone," Lightning said with a relieving sigh, "Tell me about yourselves." Lightning had heard a plethora of stories about them all, and he wanted to hear a few from another horse's mouth.
Twilight responded first. "I suppose we could tell you how we all met, right girls?" She looked about her companion's faces, and they nodded in agreement.
"Well, I was once a student of Princess Celestia, and she sent me here to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration...."
The periwinkle mare walked about Ponyville, casting her bright eyes to the sky to observe the shadows cast by clouds overhead. She preferred the dark to the light, and if shade was all she could have, she would take it. A little sun was worth the outcome of her labors, and for right now, the "labor" wasn't very hard at all. She simply had to be an innocent passerby, quietly monitoring the few there were. Her plodding along had finally paid off, giving her a perfect chance to set her plans in motion, and she couldn't wait to push the pebble that would cause the avalanche. It's a matter of time, my long-lost friend. A matter of thick, motionless time....