//------------------------------// // Lightning strikes. // Story: Before Celestia~ // by CuttingEdge //------------------------------// The final shout roared echoed through the base. The noise spread chaos around the base. Pegasi were horrified at the thought of a great fire breathing, scale covered, gold obsessed, DRAGON. Ponies were not made for war. Just peace. Blaze didn't know exactly what to do, but he had an idea. Jumping off the bed he picked up his armor."Peach?" He looked down a few spots to see Peach doing the same thing. "Help me get this on!" Blaze shouted. "Ok. . ." The young Mare ran over and began to get help Blaze with his armour. It was on before a second's notice. "Ok, now yours." Blaze started helping Peach now, but most of the other pegasi had already made it out the door. "Not so TIGHT!" Peach grumbled loudly. "Don't want it falling off do you?" Blaze got his sword and handed Peach her's. He hated the whiny types. "Let's go!" The two flew out the door at high speeds. What was outside was as bad as they could have imagined it to be. Pegasi flew around in different directions, most towards the dragon in the sky. The great beast blew fire in all directions. Blaze looked away just in time, as the spray of fire caught up to one of the ponies. "That could have been me." Blaze thought. Pegasi were using clouds to shoot lightning at the dragon, but it had little effect on the thick red scales. Others took up the futile tactic of hitting it with their swords. But that had no effect either. Shouting commands were being passed among the higher and lower ranking pegasi. So far the ponies were seeming to have no effect on the dragon. Until. . . The flash came first. . . . Then the noise. *BOOOOOM!* A brilliant flash of lightning shot across the entire sky. It arced, and with perfect accuracy slammed right into the dragon's chest. The dragon roared, the noise going slower as it went. "Who did THAT!?" Blaze muttered, but it could have been a shout with the amount of ear damage he had recieved over the last minute. The dragon's eyes shut and it fell to the ground with a crash. Whispers went from pony to pony. Everypony was wondering what had just happened. Blaze looked in the direction of the lightning bolt. Nothing. Wait. . . He had seen something like this before. He looked instead where the lightning bolt had hit. A large gash was open directly in the middle of the dragon's chest. It wasn't bleeding yet, but it was going to. He scanned the ground for a few seconds. Surely it was there, he just needed to see it. . . There! Blaze saw movement and flew in for a closer look. "Where are ya' going, Blaze?" Peach mumbled. Blaze just kept flying until he was right above the dragon's body The beast was huge. Much bigger than any of the story books he had read. But what he was looking for was lying next to the beast. A mare, about Blaze's age was next to the body. She was slumped over, obviously from exhaustion. Blaze knew who it was the instant he saw her. "Sky!" He flew down to her side. She was sweating all over, bruised, looked terrible. But no open cuts or gashes. "But- But what about the lightning bolt?" Peach asked. By now she had followed Blaze down to the dragon. "She was the lightning bolt." Blaze gently nudged the sword that lay by her side. The sword that had killed the dragon. Blueskies gasped. "Sky! Sky?" Blaze shook her lightly. She was out cold. "Peach, get some med-ponies over here!" By now a few of the other ponies had found what was happening. "Can she really fly that fast?" "Who is that?" "I want to date that pony. . ." Blaze looked up at the last one. So random! Who would say that? He didn't see the perpatraitor. Bah, ponies are wierd. 4:30 A.M. 15 of harvest season. Blaze waited outside of the infirmary. Trotting back and forth the small distance between the wall and the door. Finally a doctor opened the door. "She can see you now." Blaze thanked the doctor and quickly went into the room. "Rose? You okay?" Rose sat in the bed at the end of the room. She was beat up, bruises, soot on her face, and a wrapped up wing. "I'm alive. That's more than can be said for those fourteen ponies who died today." A frown was the only way to describe her face. "Fourteen?" Blaze had no idea. The only fatality he knew of was. . . That one. "Fourteen ponies. Including that one who was nice to you as you entered here. And he's dead, THEY are dead. . . All because of me." Her expression remained an emotionless frown. "And how do you think that!? It was a DRAGON. Big fire breathing monster. Not my best friend that killed them. You are the one who AVENGED them." Blaze hated drama. ALL drama. "How do you do that?" She stopped frowning. "Do what?" Blaze pushed a chair up and sat by the bed. "Make me feel good, even when i am as bad as i can get." She was now smiling, a big smile. Blaze thought she looked beautiful when she did that. Shaking the thought from his head, he responded. "Because you just saved a lot more than fourteen lives, and killed a full grown dragon. The compliments don't end there either. There is a line of people waiting to thank you. And the only reason why I'm in here is because i know you. Oh, yeah. And there's some dude outside the door who wants to "Date you." Don't ask why, he's creepy." Blaze wasn't lying. The line was half thankers, half people who want to know how she can go that fast. "Well. . . I am going to take every second i have in here and spend it sleeping." "I've heard about the sleep schedules here. Is it really that bad?" "Worse. The monsters attack two to three times a day. At intervals that keep us from getting a wink of sleep." From the bags under Rose's eyes, Blaze knew she was telling the truth. The infirmary door opened. Blaze knew the figure at the end of the hall. But not what he was doing there. "Where is Commander Skies?" The man was tall, muscular, imposing, obviously the type to join the military and not leave until they die. "Right here, Admiral Hurricane."