Lightning Bolt of Rome

by CrackedInkWell

Chapter XIII: City on Fire.

Author's Note:

My apologies for taking so long, I got distracted by another story in which I was inspired to write up. But since that's down now, I can continue on with this.

Timber from the rooftops glowed like candles in the twilight of the night. Red, yellow, white, and orange light flickered everywhere as the smoky fires spread from home to home, temple to temple, monument to monument. The wailing of women, the cries of men, and the terrified voices of children choked the air like the smoke in the evening air. Humans and animals alike fled from the fires like rats throwing themselves overboard a sinking ship.

Lightning Bolt had never seen anything like this. Sure, there were occasions where a few buildings in Canterlot would catch fire, but he never could have imagined an inferno like this. Turning to Fortunata, he saw that she had a look of awestruck horror.

“It’s happening again,” she said. “By the gods, Rome is on fire!”

Lightning Bolt looked around. “Where are the fireponies?”

“The what?”

“Doesn’t this city have someone to put out the fire? Isn’t there a fire brigade or something?”

“You mean something like that?” The slave girl pointed to a line of men who were passing buckets of water to each other. Despite how fast they were going, they didn’t have enough water to fully extinguish the flames.

“It’s not going to work.” Lightning Bolt looked to the sky and noticed that there were a few stray clouds overhead. He suddenly got an idea before quickly turning to Fortunata. “Listen to me. I need you to tell as many people as you can to find someplace safe outside of the city.”

“Lord Jupiter!” The two turned to see Iovianus and the rest of the priesthood running up to them. “We must leave immediately! The fire is getting too close to your temple!”

“Listen,” the pegasus took flight, “I need all of you to get as many of your kind out of the city as possible.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Fortunata.

“I have an idea, but it’s going to take me a while to pull it off. Now, all of you go out and get everypony out of the city, now!”

“Yes, Jupiter,” the priesthood replied as the pegasus took to the air. Not to say that it was an easy flight as he coughed from the excessive amount of smoke. Once he was high enough to the cloud level, he was able to get a good view of the city below. In some places, the capital glowed like the embers of a campfire while in others it glowed brightly and was quickly spreading. In the light of the fires, he could make out mobs trying to stampede away from the flames.

Now, Captain Lightning Bolt set himself to work, gathering as many clouds as he possibly could. When the remaining ones were too thin to move, he started to fly outside of the city’s borders to find thicker ones. As he was pushing them all into place, he could tell just by touch that they were wild clouds, the kind that wasn’t made in any weather factory. This worried him because unlike the clouds that were factory-made, wild clouds like these were only found in the likes of the Everfree Forest and were proven to be just as unpredictable.

‘Celestia, I really hope this works,’ he thought as he placed another cluster of clouds over the city. Every so often, Lightning would look down to see where the fires had progressed to. On one of his trips back to the borders, he saw that the temple he had been residing in had finally caught fire. Even the Circus Maximus where he saw those barbaric games earlier had been ablaze. Not even the House of Senators had been spared from the inferno.

He knew that the longer he spent trying to get more clouds, the further the fire would spread. Even worse, his wings were getting tired and he could start to feel his armor weighing him down. In a desperate act, he stripped himself of his backplate, helmet, and even his golden boots, letting them fall into the fire below. With the loss of weight, he was able to fly more quickly through the air as he gathered more clouds.

Finally, after spending so much time and effort gathering and placing the series of the clouds in the right areas, the pegasus decided that it was time to finally try out his plan, hoping it would work.

He flew up to the outer layers of clouds, turning his back to one of them, and letting lose a swift buck. Lightning quickly sprang from it and swiftly spread to the others, creating a web of light in the night air.

The sound of deafening thunder slowly dwindled and, before he knew it, rain began to descend upon the burning city below. “Ah-ha! Yes!” Bolt cried out in joy. “It worked!”

As of that moment, the wildfire of Rome was now facing a losing battle against the showers raining from the heavens. People who were still in the city not only noticed the rain, but the lightning arcing across the clouds from the sudden storm. Such unusual weather could only be made from one god.

Jupiter, it seemed, had taken pity upon the capital.

_*_

It took about an hour and a half for the sudden storm to subdue the fire. Every now and then, a few clouds were added, with the pegasus swiftly kicking them to expand the rain and lightning. With every minute that went by, the smoky air was being replaced with steam as houses, monuments, temples, and the government building was being put out. Even though he was high in the air, the Captain could hear cheers growing louder from the city’s citizens.

When the stallion couldn’t see any more of the fire, he descended and heard the booming chants of “Hail Jupiter!” coming from outside of the city’s walls. When he flew towards where the outbursts were coming from, mobs greeted him in ecstasy and changed their chants to “Long reign Jupiter!”

‘For once,’ the Solar Guard thought when some of the humans decided to carry him on their shoulders, ‘it feels incredible to be the hero.'

Comments

[Rocky Runner]

It is sealed. Pony Emperor time. *Palpatine Laugh*

[JohnIsOffline]

‘For once,’ the Solar Guard thought when some of the humans carried him on their shoulders, ‘It feels incredible to be the hero for once.’

c1.staticflickr.com/1/46/343313257_e02f570ce5.jpg
Good luck, someday. you will lead an army.

[Autarch Prime]

6567800 That has been pre-ordained, young sith.