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// Chapter 2 
// Story: With the Shadow of Lightning 
// by oneupthextraman 
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Chapter 2
Rarity was pushing Lighting in a wheelchair toward her home. It was much sunnier now than it was before. Lighting seemed apprehensive about staying with Rarity. Lighting was holding onto his cloak. Rarity opened the door to her house, and let the two of them in. Twilight was playing cards with Sweaty bell.
Sweetie bell yelled, “RARITY!” and jumped on her sister, hugging her. “I was so worried. Are you ok? Who is this colt? What happened to the dogs? Are you ok?”
Twilight got up from the table, and walked over. “I’m glad to see you are okay Rarity. But who is this colt?” Lighting tried to shy away, but sitting in a stationary chair made that somewhat hard.
Rarity said, “This is lighting. He is the one who saved me from those dogs. But he got injured in the scuffle, so I am going to take care of him until he is better.”
Lighting reached out a hoof, and said, “They call me Lighting.” 
Twilight took the hoof with some reservations. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.”
Lighting’s face lit up. “Really? The pupil of Princess Celestia?” 
Twilight responded, “Um. Yes I am.”
Lighting laughed a bit. “That’s great. If I asked you to deliver a message to her, would it be possible for you to deliver it for me?” Lighting asked with a great big sympathy sucking smile.
Twilight responded, “Sure.”
Lighting turned his head to Rarity, “My dear, could I bother you for some paper and a writing tool?” Rarity nodded, and galloped over to a nearby desk, and retrieved the paper and pencil. Lighting wrote something down on the paper quickly, and then handed it to Twilight. “I would be ever so grateful of you could transport this to the princess for me.” 
Twilight took the un-folded paper, and briefly looked at it. It seemed to be in some kind of code. “Um, sure. I’ll have spike send it right over.”
Lighting said, “Thank you.”
Sweetie Bell looked at Lighting, and asked, “So, lighting. What do you do for a living?” 
Rarity laughed a weak laugh, “Oh, those young fillies. What a crazy bunch.” She rubbed her sister’s mane in a playful manor.
Lighting smiled. “I help people with problems.” He paused a bit. “More like, a problem eliminator.”  He laughed a bit.
Sweetie bell said, “That great, because my sister has a problem. She needs a colt, and….” Rarity poked Sweetie bell.
Rarity said, “Oh, the little fillies, with their big mouths, and imaginations.” Rarity laughed a weak laugh.
Twilight coughed. “Well, I had better be off, and deliver this message to the princess. I’ll see you three around.” Twilight walked out.
Lighting asked, “So, where am I crashing? Hmm? On the sofa?” He pointed to a nearby sofa. 
Rarity responded, “No my dear. I’m going to have you sleep in my second bedroom. We can’t have my savior sleeping on some musty old futon.”
Lighting, “Well, if you say so.” Rarity pushed the wheel chair into another room. The room was not too large, and was somewhat sparse. There was a bed, a chest at the foot of the bed, a dresser, and a closet. It was large enough to maneuver the wheel chair around, but not too much more. The room was decked out in a light pink. 
Rarity said, “And this is your room.” She pushed the chair up to the side of the bed. Rarity helped Lighting into the bed, and adjusted the sheets. “I’ll bring you some water in a moment.” Rarity left the room. Lighting examined his new surroundings. The bed sure was soft, and was very pink, and pastel. The rest of the room seemed like it as well.
Rarity shortly returned with some orange juice for Lighting. “Here you are my dear. Drink up; you have to get your strength back.” Lighting took the orange juice and drank some of it down, and then set it on a coaster.
Lighting said, “Thank you Rarity. For everything. For the place to stay, and the orange juice.”
Rarity blushed a little. “It is nothing my dear. Now, get some sleep. We need you to heal and such.” She smiled.
Lighting said, “I do feel a bit tired.” He yawned a bit, and stretched a bit, which caused him to wince a bit in pain. Rarity adjusted the bed sheets and Lighting adjusted to his side and fell asleep rather quickly. 
Lighting slept uneasy. He did not know Rarity very well, and felt that he may not be able to trust her. He tossed a bit during his sleep. Then, with a start, woke up, sweating a bit in the pink bed. Lighting was not sure what he had dreamed about, but knew he had to get out of there. He examined the clock. It was 3:00 in the afternoon. Lighting felt that now was as good a time as any to try and leave. He got up out of bed, and put on his cloak, and carefully opened the door. Examining and seeing that nobody was there, the quietly went through the door, and into a hallway in the house. The floor creaked a little, but figured there was little he could do to stop that. After carefully walking down the hallway, Lighting could see the front door.
But there was a large area where Rarity could be hiding. Using his magic, he examined the area, and found no pony inside the house. In one quick movement, Lightning jumped to the door, and in the same movement, opened it. On the other side of the door was Princess Luna. This sudden revelation caused Lighting to jump back and screen a little bit, causing him to lose his balance, and land on his back, causing him to wince in pain. 
Rarity came running, and was shocked at what she saw. Lightning was up and about, and Princess Luna had come to visit.  “Oh, Princess. What a surprise!” Rarity laughed a little at what had suddenly come about. “What can I do for you today?” She walked up to Lighting and helped him up.
Luna spoke in a normal speaking voice, and said, “Yes, Lighting, I definitely see that this could be a potential secret base. Why, look at all these pillows! They could just cover you in them and cause you severe trouble.” She smiled at her irony.
Rarity helped Lighting into the wheel chair. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
Luna responded, “Prince Lighting here thought you might be kidnapping him to steal information about the crown. So he asked for some help escaping. I thought it was your house Rarity, but I decided to come and confirm that. And I was right.”
Rarity had a confused look on her face. “Wait. Prince Lighting? Secret base?” She turned to Lighting. “What’s going on? I’m confused.”
Lighting said, “I’m sorry Miss Rarity, but that information is strictly classified.”
Luna had a ‘oh come on’ look on her face. “Really Lighting? You are going to pull that one out on the holder of the Element of Generosity? Really now.” She shook her head at Lighting.
Lighting slowly turned his head to look at Rarity. He had a moderate look of shock on his face. “Oh” was all he could muster.
Rarity was still confused, and wore it on her face. “What?”
Luna spoke, “You see Rarity, this is Prince Lighting, and he is a secret agent with the Royal Hidden Task Force.  It’s a spy agency.”
Rarity looked at Lighting, and asked “And you’re a prince?”
Lighting said, “Technically yes.”
Luna spoke up, “Technically? Blah! By definition you are! You and Prince Blue Blood are twins!”
Rarity looked at Lighting, and gasped. “Really?”
Lighting did not make eye contact. “Yes. Yes I am. I don’t go around flaunting it because I don’t like to. Also, in the past some ponies have tried to attack me for being a prince.” He paused. “They seem to think that if they can best me in the field of combat, they can claim they defeated me, and walk around all happy and full of themselves. That’s why I live here, in Ponyville now. For the peace and the quiet.” He looked out a nearby window. 
Luna smiled. “Well. I see that you are in no danger Lighting. I shall leave you in the good hoofs of Rarity here.” She left, and closed the door.  Rarity wheeled Lighting to the room he was staying in before, and put him in to bed.
Rarity took the cloak off of Lighting, and asked, “Why, if you are Royalty, do you wear this old cloak? It looks so worn.”
Lighting sighed. “I have had that cloak for many years. It is dear to me. It was given to me by an old friend. I have not seen him in years.” Lighting looked off into the distance, which was hard as the bed did not face any windows. Rarity looked in the direction Lighting looked, and saw nothing.
Rarity asked, “Why don’t I mend this up for you. Sew up some of these pockets, and give it a good washing?”
Lighting seemed visibly torn by this proposition. “Um. I’m not sure.” He hugged the cloak. “I suppose. But don’t do anything too drastic to it. I wear it on my stealth missions.” He handed the cloak to Rarity.
“Don’t worry. I’ll just spruce it up, and take out some of the wear and tatter of it.”  Rarity left the room, hovering the cloak with her magic, and closed the door.