With the Shadow of Lightning

by oneupthextraman

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A unicorn, dressed entirely in black jumped from a nearby grove of trees. The only thing exposed, was the pony’s eyes. Lightning stood up, and pulled out his night stick. He smiled. The ninja pony charged at Lightning. Lightning jumped forward and slightly to the right. The ninja continued to charge. Then Lightning mad a quick little spin, and used his cloak to hit the ninja in the face, causing the ninja pony to lose their balance, and fall over, skidding several feet on the grass. Lighting then jumped over to where the ninja pony stopped on the ground, and held out his night-stick to the pony’s face using his magic.

Lighting said, “Now leave ninja, and tell your mistress that I am always aware of my surroundings, and it will take a lot more to scare me.” The ninja pony got up, and ran off, using teleportation magic to get away. Lightning retracted his night stick, and put it back in his cloak. He then turned to Rarity and Applejack and said, “Yes, I do sell spatulas, and I’m sticking to that story.” He then smiled and walked over to the blanket, and laid down on where he was before, breathing heavily.

Rarity walked over to Lightning, and asked, “Are you ok?”

Lighting continued to breathe deeply. “Yeah.” He inhaled, “That’s just harder than…(breathe)…I remember.” He smiled.

Rarity responded, “You’re still recovering my dear. Just lay down and relax. Strenuous activity can be hard on a recovering colt.”

Lightning fell asleep, rather fast. It took that much out of him.

Lightning then found himself falling in a nearly starless black void. The stars slowly flew by. Lightings actions were slow, and slightly delayed. Waving his hooves around caused a shadowing affect. He heard voices, but could not make out what they were saying. Lightning looked around, trying to find something to focus on. Something to help him find where he was.

Lighting asked the void, “Where am I? What is this place?”

A twisted voice returned, “This is the chaos, the emptiness of the world. A place where nothing happens, and yet everything happens. A place of known, and unknown.”

Lighting responded in anger, “The element of evil! I know of you. You corrupt ponies souls, and make them your pawns! You shall never get away with this!”

The voice laughed. “They always say that. Empires have collapsed because of me. Because of the inherit evil in every pony’s hearts, I exist.” Lighting could not think of a response. “Take this, as a sign of my power, and why all have ever trembled before me.”

Lightning woke up sweating, with a massive jump. Lighting found himself in Rarity’s room. It was much later in the day. From the window Lightning could see, it was twilight outside. Rarity was talking to a doctor pony. Lightning could not make out what they were saying, but by their facial expressions, it did not sound good. Lighting groaned, and tried to sit up. Rarity ran over, and the doctor walked over. Rarity had a concerned look on her face.

Rarity asked, “Are you ok? How are you feeling?”

Lightning cracked his neck. “Like a house just got dropped on me. Ugh.”

The doctor replied, “That’s not a surprise. You appeared to have a massive infection, but when I checked again about fifteen minutes ago, the infection just seemed to have disappeared. It’s like a magic virus. But that’s just unheard of. I’m not sure what happened.”

Lighting scratched his chin and thought. “I have some theories.”

The doctor raised an eyebrow. “Care to share them…” He paused looking down at his clipboard continued in a mocking tone, “Seller of spatulas?”

Lighting replied, “Sorry, but its classified to an extreme level.”

The doctor huffed. “Well, ok then. You’ll want to get plenty of bed rest, and drink plenty of orange juice. You need to keep your strength up after an ordeal like that.” The doctor left the room, and walked himself out.

Rarity turned her attention to Lighting. “I was so worried. You just suddenly became very hot and sweaty, and I became concerned. I rushed you home, and got in contact with the doctor.”

Lighting smiled. “Thank you dear Rarity. But there was nothing you could have done. I believe there are nefarious things in play here.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Nefarious? How so? What so? Hu so?”

Lighting began to explain. “Much like the elements of harmony, there are the anti-elements. But the most powerful one of the bunch is the element of Evil. It’s what gives the other anti-elements their power. And it is so powerful, that it has gain self-awareness, and has started spreading its influence around Equestria.” He paused. “And apparently has tracked me down. It has apparently become aware that several of my previous missions have been to track down the anti-elements and capture them for the crown.”

Rarity had a concerned look on her face. “Oh dear. That sounds dreadful. Do you think there is any risk to Sweetie Bell or me?”

Lighting shook his head no. “The only reason it knows I exist is because I have personally tracked down several of the elements already, and have come in contact with them several times. I think it is starting to develop a grudge. And that its weakness. When you start being too focused on one single element, you lose your ability to see the entire picture.”
Rarity looked a little confused. “I have the upmost faith in your mission my dear.”
Lighting examined the sheets. “Thank you dear Rarity. I’m glad some pony does. For you see, I do not. It is very dangerous, and I fear that if I fail to destroy all the anti-elements, Equestria may fall under a shadow darker than the one Discord cast.” Lighting looked off into the distance, which as hard because he was inside, but he still managed to get out some epicenes.

Rarity smiled. “I had better let you get some sleep. You had some action today. Don’t want to stress that stomach injury too much, now do we?” She smiled again.

Lighting returned the smile. “No nurse Rarity.” Rarity giggled a bit at this. “I’ll get some rest.” Lightning snuck under the covers, and did he is best to fall asleep. Rarity turned the light out, and closed the door.

The next day, Rarity knocked at Lighting’s door. Lighting responded, “Enter, if you wish.” Rarity entered wearing what could be considered a nurses outfit. It had a nurses’ hat, and some kind of jacket/scrubs thing going on. It seemed to hug Rarity’s curves a bit more than what would be a practical for a real nurse. Following Rarity was Twilight Sparkle carrying a bag.

Lighting had his scanner out, and was examining his stomach. “Interesting outfit there nurse Rarity.” He smiled, and Rarity blushed a bit. “Hello Twilight. How are you doing today?”

Twilight was not amused. “I’m doing fine. Rarity asked me to come over and use my magic to check and see if there are any lingering effects from your….incursion with evil the other day.”

Lightning put his scanner down, and replied, “Sure. Go ahead. Check away.” Twilight activated her horn, and waved it over Lightning. “I think it was a Phenom Class-B infection. It was short, but intense. Also, I firmly believe it was sent magically.”

Twilight had a confused look on her face. “A Phenom, what?”

Lightning explained, “It’s a tricky type of spell, rarely used in modern day. Alas, my foe is from a long time ago, so it makes sense.” Lighting smiled.

Twilight responded, “I am not familiar with that…type of magic.”

“That’s ok Twilight. There is lots of old magic that no pony uses anymore. It things like that that I need to know for my profession.”

Twilight gave Lightning a look, and said, “Rarity tells me you are some kind of spy. Do you come across lots of different kinds of magic in our travels?”

Lighting responded in a nervous tone. “Perhaps.” He looked around nervously.

Rarity stepped forward, and said to Lighting, “Its ok dear, Twilight is the element of Magic.”

Lighting glared at Rarity with a ‘you should have told me that before’ look. “Well, in that case, I am a spy for the Royal Guard. I perform various spy things, and am currently engaged in a personal grudge with one of the anti-elements; the element of evil. It knows my mission is to track it down and destroy it, so it has focused on me.” Lighting smiled, having finished his little story. “And I suspect it used its magic to infect me with a temporary infection.” Lighting smiled again.

Twilight had her doubts. “Then, if it has the ability to give you infections remotely, why not just kill you?”

Lighting replied, “I’m not sure. I suspect it considered that too easy, and either wants to kill me more directly, or make me one of its minions. It’s hard to tell.”

Twilight continued to express her doubts with her facial expressions. “Uh hu.” She turned to Rarity. “Rarity, can I talk to you for a bit in the hall way.” She poked Rarity into the hallway, and closed the door. Twilight said to Rarity, “I think this colt is crazy. I mean, did you hear what he said? The element of evil? I think we need to call the Princess, and have him committed.”

Rarity laughed a bit. “Now Twilight, I doubt that very much. Princess Luna came over the other day, and confirmed his story as a spy. I doubt she would mislead us like that.” Rarity smiled.

Twilight seemed unsure of this. “I don’t know. Maybe he has secrets on the Princess, and he makes her keep up the secret, or he would release the secret.”

Rarity did not believe this story. “I find that even more unbelievable, my dear.”

Just then, Lightning jumped through the door, wearing a sock on his horn. He looked around, with his eye patch on, squinting with his not covered eye. He said very quietly, “Something is here.” Rarity looked concerned, but Twilight rolled her eyes. Lightning walked around the house, with Rarity paying close attention, and Twilight not giving a care as to what was going on. After searching for about a minute, they came to the kitchen. There, Lighting focused in on a small rock by the front door. “AH HA!” yelled Lighting. Using his magic, he levitated the small rock, and showed it to Twilight. “It’s a classic observation spell.”

Twilight groaned, and with some obvious reluctance, checked out the rock with her magic. After three seconds of checking, Twilight was able to detect some kind of spell on the rock. “What is that?”

Lighting responded, “It’s a rock.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “But, some one case a spell to be able to track it, and listen in on nearby conversations.”

Twilight asked, “Well, what do we do with it now?” Lighting then walked over to the door, and threw it out. “I had better write a letter to the Princess. She must be informed.”

Lightning interjected, “I can assure you, she knows about the situation. But if you feel like you must, you certainly can.”

Twilight nodded, and bolted out the door, and closed it behind her.

Lighting sighed. “Well, that was exciting.” He turned to Rarity. “What do you say I take you out to dinner tonight? As a little way of saying thank you for taking me in like this.”

Rarity left her mouth agape, “You don’t have to do that. You saved me from those dogs. It is I who should be doing more for you!”

Lighting held up his hoof. “No. You could have stuck me in a corner, and cared little. You are being so generous to me. You took me to meet your friend, Applejack, and you are just so caring.” He paused and walked up to Rarity to get closer, “And, I also want to get to know you better.” He smiled, and continued to walk past Rarity.

Rarity giggled a bit, and smiled. But that smile quickly faded. “What about that rock? They know where I live now, and they might suspect something is up, and come searching for it.”

Lightning turned his head to Rarity. “Don’t worry. It was only here for a short time. They most likely will figure that we stopped to have a chat, or look at the pretty dresses. And when I picked it up, I threw off its tracking magic, so now it thinks it’s somewhere in a field tracking west.” Lighting smiled a devilish smile.

Rarity said, “Oh. Good thinking.”